[Archive] Arsenal Mercenary | Gunnery Commando DPS Compendium

[danoobsminion]

Maybe it's just me, but I am not regenning heat at the same rate as the heat table shows. 0-30 is giving me 5 regen, 40-80 is 3, and 80+ is 2.

What am I missing? Not level 50 yet.

[Xyrm]

(12-19-2011 04:14 PM)danoobsminion Wrote:  The only real question in rotation that I have is about the use of rail shot.

How important is it to use on 5x tracer lock? I feel like an 8 heat ability that does as much damage as Rail should still be the most efficient use of a GCD, regardless of locks. The longer it is on CD, the less it is used, and obviously damage suffers.

I also feel like rail shot's damage is really random. At times a 3x tracer lock will noncrit for more than a 5x. Obviously could be the variety of other variables, but the gain with tracer lock doesn't seem justified if it means rail shot sits on CD for an extended period.

I have been considering this, but ONLY because of the dynamic nature of our rotation. If you go for a while without seeing a barrage proc, you will almost certainly have a 5x stack for your next rail shot. However, lots of barrage procs is actually a good thing (because unload is so efficient, that means less rapid shots and therefore more damage). Ultimately we'll need a proper tool to determine this, and given the dizzying degree of variables in play here it's hard to say with napkin math. In regards to your 3x versus 5x damage difference, keep in mind two things. First, the ability has a damage range. Second, different mobs have different armor values. A robe-wearing Jedi Sage NPC will almost certainly take more damage from ranged (shows up white) damage than, say, an assault droid. As a result, we may end up favoring different abilities on different fights if they don't normalize armor across all bosses.

(12-19-2011 05:33 PM)GWARRR Wrote:  We don't have any numbers currently to definitely conclude that Rail Shot should only be at 5x Tracer Lock. But, we wager that this is the case. To run through the case: we know attaining 5x Tracer Lock is 7.5s worth of Tracer Missile, while Rail Shot is on a 15s CD. This implies that the second Rail Shot on should be irrelevant to our consideration, since you have plenty of time to hit 5x Tracer Lock again. The question therefore solely concerns the first Rail Shot. My opinion? You may as well wait. Because you hit 5x Tracers before 5x Tracer Lock, you're going to fire off your Heatseeker Missiles before you get to Tracer Lock. The front bit of your rotation may look something like this:

As I said above, just keep in mind how insanely random our rotation can be. One minute you can be proccing barrage almost every TM, the next you could be bored to tears doing the TM + RS repetitive cycle, only using RS and HM on CD.

On a side note, another thing I noticed while leveling (finally hit 50 this morning, it's good to have a break). Some of our abilities frontload heat (Unload, Heatseeker, RS), and some backload (Tracer Missile). While the rotation above is important, for the sake of heat regen, my thought it would be better to use the frontload first, then the backload.

Here's an example. Let's say you HS just came off cooldown, but you need to get a TM off to refresh your stacks/buffs in the next 3 seconds or so. If you chose to TM (backload) first, then HS, you end up with +32 heat, even with one critting that pushes you up a bracket in regen loss. On the other hand, if you HS first and THEN TM, you can use the GCD of HS and the cast time of TM to recover 15 heat. Thoughts?

[GWARRR]

(12-20-2011 01:13 PM)Xyrm Wrote:  As I said above, just keep in mind how insanely random our rotation can be. One minute you can be proccing barrage almost every TM, the next you could be bored to tears doing the TM + RS repetitive cycle, only using RS and HM on CD.

Yeah, kind of glossed over that point since it's a priority system and not a strict 1 - 2 - 3 rotation. Probably should not have, but hopefully a sample case illustrated my point reasonably.

Quote:On a side note, another thing I noticed while leveling (finally hit 50 this morning, it's good to have a break). Some of our abilities frontload heat (Unload, Heatseeker, RS), and some backload (Tracer Missile). While the rotation above is important, for the sake of heat regen, my thought it would be better to use the frontload first, then the backload.

Here's an example. Let's say you HS just came off cooldown, but you need to get a TM off to refresh your stacks/buffs in the next 3 seconds or so. If you chose to TM (backload) first, then HS, you end up with +32 heat, even with one critting that pushes you up a bracket in regen loss. On the other hand, if you HS first and THEN TM, you can use the GCD of HS and the cast time of TM to recover 15 heat. Thoughts?

Agreed, I would use the frontloading skills prior to the backloading skills. I've noticed this too, and it's something to certainly take into account when determining if you're reaching points where you have to start using Rapid Shots or not. If you're going from a frontloader into a backloader, it can really allow you to maintain your DPS instead of facing a severe dropoff by having to Rapid Shots a bunch.

(12-20-2011 08:20 AM)danoobsminion Wrote:  Maybe it's just me, but I am not regenning heat at the same rate as the heat table shows. 0-30 is giving me 5 regen, 40-80 is 3, and 80+ is 2.

What am I missing? Not level 50 yet.

Do you have any concrete evidence of this? The old XML indicated that the heat table in the first post is correct. But if it's wrong and it's as you say...

Part of me kind of doubts that is the case though, you have 3 heat breakpoints listed and there's four arrows indicating heat in the UI.

[danoobsminion]

That's what it looks like for me at least on tool tip, and my regen agrees with it.

Also meant to say 0-40 gives me 5 in my original post.

No real calculation put into it, just wanted to clarify.

[GWARRR]

Thanks for the hard data. The Compendium has been updated. This has many implications for our rotation. It certainly allows one to push your heat a bit more before you have to worry about tapering off. However, unlike before since the drop is from 5Hps to 3Hps at the first breakpoint, it means you're severely punished for any errors in your play. So you can get through 3 Tracer Missiles before requiring any sort of Rapid Shots to alleviate your heat. I'd still probably stick with 2 to play it safe, so you can transition into Heatseeker Missiles much more smoothly.

[Poombibio]

Something still isn't lining up in those pics tho. The 2nd one says 56 heat and moderate heat dissipation, but still says 3 Heat per second....

the 3rd says 76 heat, and slow dissipation, but 3 heat per second....

Am I missing something, or is there a typo/bug?

[danoobsminion]

Hmm, didn't even see that. My heat was dissipating at the ranges I listed, but I'll test it further and see.

Edit:
After further testing, I'm still getting the same results despite the tool tip discrepancy. I think the ranges I listed are the correct ones. It's pretty easy to test, so you can check for yourself in game if you are unsure.

[Menelvagor]

I'm not sure if anyone has pointed this out before (I just found this site a few days ago and its hard to go thru 14 pages) but when taking the Armstech Crew Skill you are going to want Investigation>Treasure Hunting. TH doesn't provide anything (at least from levels 1-25) that helps you level your Armstech especially if you are constantly making and Reverse Engineering items to get the improved recipes. In order to make the improved version you will need the supplies from Investigation