Marksmanship Sniper/Sharpshooter Gunslinger Compendium

[Tibbel]

(04-18-2012 11:42 PM)tdr Wrote:  Others can correct me, but I think a snipe may be universally superior to overload shot for MM unless run-n-gun is required.

As MM, Snipe is superior to Overload Shot even when run-n-gun is required. Snap Shot makes that possible.

The only situation when Overload Shot is preferable to Snipe is when we are stuck out of cover. In that rare situation, Fragmentation Grenade is very close in DPE to Overload Shot (and obviously far better if there are multiple targets). Naturally, if there are higher-priority filler options available (Takedown, Interrogation Probe, Corrosive Dart, Orbital Strike, Rifle Shot) then those are even better choices.

[Talshai]

(04-18-2012 11:42 PM)tdr Wrote:  You appear to be using a blaster rifle instead of a sniper rifle...

Yeah, the blaster rifle is kinda intended. I didn't see the point in buying a sniper rifle that time. Cause the only difference on stats are accuracy. Which I thought I wouldn't need. So I bought a blaster rifle instead. I used a sniper rifle before and that doesn't seem to do any difference in point of my dps or useability of my skills.

(04-18-2012 11:42 PM)tdr Wrote:  I would also only use *either* CD or EP as filler in the snipe/ambush,followthrough,filler,filler tuples instead of both. I find the immediate energy drain of popping both those abilities on cooldown in the same followthrough cycle to run me OOM all the time.
You might work shattershot into early filler slots and use O(rbital)S(trike) on cooldown. OS is especially tasty if you can work it in during a sniper-volley proc or during target acquired.

Others can correct me, but I think a snipe may be universally superior to overload shot for MM unless run-n-gun is required.



Just some quick impressions. YMMV



-t

I didn't list shattershot in the normal rotation, but I'm pretty sure I mentioned I'm keeping the debuff up. So I usually start with it.
I haven't thought about OS als single target attack in my normal rotation. I'll try that.
Thanks for your help. Your advice seems good. But I don't see how anything of that will nearly double my dps. There must be some other major mistake.

[tdr]

(04-19-2012 12:37 AM)Talshai Wrote:  

(04-18-2012 11:42 PM)tdr Wrote:  You appear to be using a blaster rifle instead of a sniper rifle...

Yeah, the blaster rifle is kinda intended. I didn't see the point in buying a sniper rifle that time. Cause the only difference on stats are accuracy. Which I thought I wouldn't need. So I bought a blaster rifle instead. I used a sniper rifle before and that doesn't seem to do any difference in point of my dps or useability of my skills.

(04-18-2012 11:42 PM)tdr Wrote:  I would also only use *either* CD or EP as filler in the snipe/ambush,followthrough,filler,filler tuples instead of both. I find the immediate energy drain of popping both those abilities on cooldown in the same followthrough cycle to run me OOM all the time.
You might work shattershot into early filler slots and use O(rbital)S(trike) on cooldown. OS is especially tasty if you can work it in during a sniper-volley proc or during target acquired.

Others can correct me, but I think a snipe may be universally superior to overload shot for MM unless run-n-gun is required.



Just some quick impressions. YMMV



-t

I didn't list shattershot in the normal rotation, but I'm pretty sure I mentioned I'm keeping the debuff up. So I usually start with it.
I haven't thought about OS als single target attack in my normal rotation. I'll try that.
Thanks for your help. Your advice seems good. But I don't see how anything of that will nearly double my dps. There must be some other major mistake.

What I've been doing lately, that seems to help, is to get logs from people who truly know what they are doing and parse out just their ability activations and timings. That lets me see what specific rotation maps to what DPS (...I know procs mess up a purely deterministic comparison, but it's pretty good.)

Tibbel posted some combat logs from PTS a while back and I picked up a few things from them. I think they're linked somewhere in this thread (but I'm too lazy to link them.) You might start with those. That's why I keep encouraging all the 1500dps-on-an-OperationsDummy high rollers to post logs, so we can learn from them.

Also, I think the blaster vs. sniper rifle difference is bigger than you may think:
Shadow Fist has a damage range of 302-453
No Regret (same tier SniRi) has a damage range of 408-499
(Both of these ranges apply to the same 1.5 sec Rifle Shot, so they can be directly compared.)
Looking at the damage formulae listed on this site, that 46-106 point discrepancy in damage may result in a fairly significant nerf to DPS in the long run.

[Korghal]

There was a question about this earlier but no answer so ill ask it again.

Which Relic is the best to use?
30% chance to do damage (4.5sec cd)
Matrix Cube
Use: +damage for x amount of seconds.

[tdr]

(04-19-2012 02:20 AM)Korghal Wrote:  There was a question about this earlier but no answer so ill ask it again.

Which Relic is the best to use?
30% chance to do damage (4.5sec cd)
Matrix Cube
Use: +damage for x amount of seconds.

From the analysis I've seen (but can no longer find a link to...):
Matrix and DamageProc relics are comparable from a DPS perspective (but the higher level proc relics have a lot more endurance...)
The power relics are good for concentrated burst (need pew pew NAOW!), but work out to slightly less DPS over a long battle than the Matrix/Proc relics.

A lot will also depend on which cooldowns are up, and which procs trigger, for a power trinket. It will be more valuable if you can chain Sniper Volley, Target Acquired, and big damage casts (OS, Ambush, RS+SoSx3) in the 20 sec window than if you just catch a couple Snipes, Followthroughs, and Rifle Shots.

[Tibbel]

(04-19-2012 02:45 AM)tdr Wrote:  From the analysis I've seen (but can no longer find a link to...)

The link is in the Relics section of the leading post. (Here's a direct link).

The conclusion was that the proc and the on-use relics were pretty much equal to each other, and insignificantly ahead of the Matrix Cube. Now that there are new versions of the proc and on-use relics, they have likely pulled away from the Matrix Cube, since the Matrix Cube is still the same as it has been since launch. I'm not sure by how much, but the methods and calculations are outlined in the post following that link, so it would be great if someone has the opportunity to run the numbers using the values of the new trinkets.

[Quorra]

To mirror a question asked today on the SWTOR forums...

Do you guys think that it's worth using the PVP 2pc bonus for PVE? I would have said no before 1.2, but now that we can strip out the armorings and therefore remove the useless expertise from the item, I wonder if the relative value of this set bonus has increased.

In my case in particular I have already abandoned my 4pc PVE bonus in favor of using crafted orange augmented chest and pants. Now I am also wondering if I should swap mods from my Rakata gloves and boots into my old Champion shells (yeah I know I suck at PVP and never ranked up in valor to get the BM or War Hero stuff).

I am currently lethality spec and I realize that orbital strike usage depends a lot on available energy from poison crits, but at the same time I know that I rarely ever use TA so I'm not sure I would miss the 2pc PVE bonus if I were to switch. As it stands right now, I use orbital strike a lot more than I use TA. What would you advise? Should I learn to use TA more often and keep my 2pc PVE set or just ditch it in favor of 2p PVP for the extra orbital strike tick?

[Somokon]

Here are some tests that I ran and posted on the official forums:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=419840

I would say that MM and MM/ENG are extremely close in DPS, and you should play the spec that you enjoy more. With better play I feel confident I could have gotten 50 extra DPS in pure marksman (I was unprepared for 3/3 sniper volley dumping all that energy on me). I anyone is interested I can provide the raw logs.


Also, I would recommend taking Diversion for those of you running HM Explosive Conflict. There are certain boss mechanics (especially the final boss) where is really helps.

[psi_overtake]

(04-19-2012 03:51 AM)Quorra Wrote:  ... Do you guys think that it's worth using the PVP 2pc bonus for PVE? ... As it stands right now, I use orbital strike a lot more than I use TA. What would you advise? Should I learn to use TA more often and keep my 2pc PVE set or just ditch it in favor of 2p PVP for the extra orbital strike tick?

Well, if you use OS more than you do TD in boss fights, it's probably worth it =P Once I get more gear, I'm going to make the switch.

I'd go with 2 PvP and 2 PvE, since that extra tick is likely better than the reduced energy cost of TD, and an extra 10 energy once every 2 minutes is better than increasing the range of Distraction and Takedown (isn't likely to help in PvE).

---

(04-19-2012 05:20 AM)Somokon Wrote:  ... Also, I would recommend taking Diversion for those of you running HM Explosive Conflict. There are certain boss mechanics (especially the final boss) where is really helps.

Diversion hasn't worked on Ops bosses for quite some time =( Or are you debuffing something else?

[Korghal]

Ive been using MOX live parser until today, i tried using TORparse.com now and my results are COMPLETELY different.

I mean its about 150 dps more dps in MOX then its in torparse.com .

Anyone have similiar experiences?