Did some solo ranked on my Slinger last night on The Red Eclipse and got rap'ed. lol. Just have to laugh. Those arena maps are no good for us. So many ways to get los forcing you to go into melee range to get out any sort of rotation. Yet we don't have the cooldowns to survive.. and when you are trying to survive you can't dps. I would like legshot to be as useful as it was pre 2.0. Way too much "hold the line type skills" being available to other classes. I'm finding it impossible to stop the train running through me at the start of ranked WZ's. I am finding some joy in 8 v 8.

After playing with it for a week I can say the new rotation is functional but the fun has been sucked out of what made this tank and play style great for me. Pre 3.0 I used to to enjoy the challenge this class offered in managing focus, keeping threat and maximizing dps. Essentially this came down to delaying Sundering Strike for a long as possible and squeezing in Strike when the big signature abilities were on cool down (Focus permitting). Managing Riposte off the global also made for fun, fast paced action and added a variety to each engagement. Now, having Warding Strike (a focus builder) to provide damage mitigation as well as allowing Guardian Slash to realize its full potential makes this low threat/ low dps ability annoying to use when swimming in focus, if essential. My hope for an future update would be for Riposte to be made available off the Global for the Defense tree and re work Warding Strike so that i don't feel forced to use a low threat ability so early on in a rotation/ and when i have a surplus of Focus.

With 2.0 Crit has been gutted as you lvl 50 -55. So, for end game, disregard Crit/ Surge and acquire Power! Lots of it. Be sure to maintain a decent lvl of accuracy (>97%) or you will end up missing too often.

Nice write up Es'carli. I have a few bits to add not to undermine what you have written. I would like to play more competitive Full Engineering/ Sabotage but sadly with 2.0 Corrosive grenade is just too OP to pass up due to its spamability (dumbing down the class in some ways imo). That ability needs a cool down or an energy increase but I digress… . Rotation: Totally agree with this. Engineering is probably the clunkiest of all advanced specs to play in ToR but with practise and experience it can be effective and fun to play. ' Shatter Shot is a very important ability for the Engineering Sniper. It slots into the rotation nicely, and not only will your subsequent shots hit harder due to the applied 20% armour debuff, it reduces all healing the target receives by 20% making it much easier to make the kill. As such, I would recommend starting your basic rotation with it. ' When the basic rotation is on cooldown, you have a few options to keep the dps going, namely: Snipe, Ambush, frag grenade, corrosive dart and even rifle shot if energy is low. I actually prefer frag grenade but that’s because I favour a highly mobile game. Your rationale for keeping the 3 stacks up is absolutely sound and I will not argue against it. What I would always recommend is using Snipe when Laze Target is off cooldown. In fact, I recommend it in all specs even full Lethality. Regardless of the cast time, an auto-crit snipe is desirable in any burst rotation imo. Corrosive dart can be used to maximize DPS if you find yourself swimming in energy as you can be in Engineering from time-to-time. ' Plasma probe (& IP) – I use this mainly for control rather than a dps tool: to slow groups of enemies, aid friendly healers under fire, and to deny an area or caps. I don’t always necessarily keep it on cooldown, I like to try and have it available when I need it. I wish it did more dps – frag grenade can hit harder sometimes! – but maybe I’m being a bit greedy Nonetheless, it’s an awesome ability, and worthy of being a top tree power. Consistent, correct placement of this ability is a key factor in maximising your value as an Engineering Sniper. ' EMP discharge resets so many wonderful skills it’s a great ability. Primarily I will use it defensively i.e. if I am in a spot of bother and roll/ defence screen is on cooldown then it’s time to use it. Other uses include resetting Adrenaline Probe for more energy and also so that I can perform a double roll to cover a large area in a short space of time. With experience it becomes second nature on when to use it. I don’t believe you! The Sniper class is lucky to have 3 viable skill trees and a couple of hybrids with very different play styles. It’s a lot of fun switching, and sometimes I do it after each WZ to keep things interesting when pugging ' '

^^ This.

That is because they can of course. All classes can counter each other depending on the players involved. Class knowledge and player skill are the foremost important factors. If those are equal, (and assuming equal level of gear), particular counter-abilities then become important. You can take from this thread that there are varying degrees of skilled players and class knowledge! Sometimes the perceived power of a particular class might be because a particular player is very good rather than the class itself being OP.

Nice post, op. I agree with all your sentiments.

Army of smashers = aoe taunt if the Sniper has set up camp and is not being addressed i.e. attacked or taunted he/she can do massive damage (preferably to your poor healer) in a very short period of time.

A few points for you: - ALL classes that can cloak and sneak up. Very, very hard counters indeed! - A competent mara/ sent that initiate the fight without first leaping in. - Madness/ Balance spec'd Sorcs/ Sages. DOT and LOS a Sniper/ Slinger and watch him/ her cry!! - Gaurd/ Jugg: UNREMITTING/ UNSTOPABLE <-- such a pain! - Sniper/ Slingers counter Sniper/ Slingers very well. As a Sniper/ Slinger myself i prioritise opponent Sniper/ Slingers very high. - Note, A sitting Sniper/ Slinger (whilst cannot be lept too) is a sitting duck Sniper/ Slinger. - Sniper/ Slinger can be lept too/ pulled when moving.. - Tanks should (imo) use single target taunt on this class asap. - LOS can effect their DPS dramatically depending on spec or force them to get up a move (forgoing crouch defensive benefits). The above is Engineering/ Sab spec and can only be done once in a while. It effectively mitigates against melee only for a brief period of time. These abilities have the most obvious animations in the game so just move out of they way.. Melee should not be trying to death match at this time! Ranged however, can go to town! Take up resolve and have to be carefully managed.. Annoying to other classes for sure particularly if the Sniper/ Slinger is good but certainly not game breaking. This class needs everyone of those abilities to remain competitive.

PvP and Flashpoints. Just do Hoth class quests. You should make decent progress.

Me too! Regarding the spec, i think it can work just fine in PvE, against boses that move Plasma Probe can be wasted. For serious PvP though, you really want Plasma Probe, the defensive utility and control it offers is just too much to pass up, and damage isn't too shabby either.

I echo comments here suggesting they are fun. lvl'ing a Sorc is super easy and the utility adds a nice variety. Unlike snipers/ gunslingers who are good to go from lvl 10 in pvp, you really are a sitting duck until you get your bubble and force speed, but thankfully these come very early on. 200k+ dmg in lowbie pvp is very doable on a consistent basis. I lvl'd as full madness but was able to heal all the flashpoints (in full madness spec) up to lvl40 with ease. Fun class, enjoy.

Google translate works fine. nice work

I would agree with this for top level play i.e. Ranked. Long burst set-up, and dots interrupting CC are two massive deal breakers. For normal Warzones though you can play DF and DF/SAB hybrid and have a lot of fun. With skillful energy management you can put up some nice damage totals and enjoy setting people up for huge burst kills. I would like to note that DF isn't super amazing at killing tanks. Try killing a Jugg/ Guard 1v1 spec'd properly. They don't drop very quick. I would go as far as to say DF doesn't 'feel' as effective as it used to be a few patches a go.. but i have no explanation for that so it could just be me.

Overall i think Sniper/ Gunslinger is in a good place and i very much enjoy playing mine in all kinds of specs. Lethality is a DPS support spec no doubt about it. As you noted It can produce very high damage totals but cannot burst on demand, which is why it can only function well with a complementary team composition i.e. for ranked you will need other DPS in your team capable of fulfilling the burst role well. Lethality can put massive pressure on the opposing team and healers which is why i believe there can be a place for it but it is very situational (thankfully respecs are free and relatively quick to do). Mopping up the rest before the healers have a chance to return can be easier with poisons ticking everywhere. My biggest annoyance is how it breaks cc and it can take ages to leave combat to rest due to some dot still ticking somewhere. That's just a by product of the spec and one i have to put up with. It's also a very good spec for OPS bosses but that's not for here, except any changes would obviously impact PvE and the devs would need to consider that. Played (as a support DPS) and geared correctly there are no energy issues. Managing the energy to maximise Lethality's potential is a lot of fun and rewarding. I am surprised you raised this tbh. For example you can spread your dots so they are everywhere (one corr nade/ shrap bomb can hit up to three people). You can then pick a target to go to town on. After that one is dead you can then pick another which might very well be infected with your poisons and is ready for burst right away. Rifle shot/ flurry of bullets as required. haha that was funny but i cannot agree. Survivability is just fine for me. Trading ballistic dampers for improved movement speed after debilitate/ dirty kick isn't too shabby. hmm actually i would like to get the cleanse Scounderals/ Operatives get when activating dodge. Make that skill class specific instead of advanced class specific and i would be happy I have an Lethality Operative running around lowbie pvp atm. It is a lot of fun but yeah i agree it could do with some adjustments. Personally, I would like to see Weakening Blast tweaked a bit to have either its range extented to 30m and/ or provide TA. See how that goes. I just think that class needs adjusting, not others brought up to their level! Maybe by virtue of picking Focus/ Rage it removes the aoe effect of Sweep/ Smash i.e. it can still crit for high numbers to keep people who like that happy but only SINGLE target. Much like our big hitter ambush/ aimed shot. Just a suggestion. I see you play your Sniper on Red Eclipse, may I ask your toon's name?