I'm pretty sure this isn't true. I feel like my tank would be evaporating a lot quicker in hardmodes were this the case. I have heard that it doesn't work for some of the tank companions, so maybe that's where this confusion is arising from.

I rebound my camera zoom in/out to page up/down. It's a little out of the way, but I didn't want to be readjusting my camera and accidentally pull something.

Force cloak doesn't remove CCs. If the assassin is rooted and force cloaks, just aoe where they vanished and you'll pop them out.

If you think hammer shot hits hard now, wait till you have a 5 stack of armor debuff on them!

Yeah, intuitively I feel like the trinket is a pretty decent damage boost, but it can be hard to differentiate what is the damage from the trinket vs. force technique/sever force without seeing a combat log. The real question is whether or not it's worth giving up the crit/willpower from the matrix cube. You do gain a bit of endurance though.

Yeah, except from a theory aspect using force lightning as deception is a dps loss unless you have to stay outside of melee range for an extended amount of time. You'd also not want to cap out of force outside of melee range since all of your most damaging and force intensive attacks either occur or are set up from melee range. I can see this bonus perhaps being used by some pvp players (though I doubt it) but increasing ones maximum force has almost no dps benefit in pve.

Most of gunslingers' attacks are 35m. Every class has some ability they can use on targets 30m away, at least in some circumstance.

Yes, the telekinetic throw shown in the video is in kinetic spec. Notice the slow time icon.

Hey, I enjoyed the vid. One note though, as balance specced, I am almost positive that telekinetic throw does not trigger focus insight, though after seeing your vid I kind of want to double check. I do agree with saving the 2nd charge of force potency for TK throw, assuming I don't need the mobility, in which case I use it for mind crush or project. Balance specs are also pretty dependent on playstayle. I'd personally never leave home without infiltration tactics. I've also done some experimenting around with the damage proc trinket from KP, you might want to consider trying it if you get your hands on it. Rotation-wise, I personally prefer to save sever force for when they start to run away (assuming I start from stealth). Gear-wise, I like to have a bit of crit as balance, as I'm less reliant on force-potency for massive crit burst as I would be as infiltration. Also, you wouldn't happen to have any tips for trading surge for power? I've gotten my crit down to a comfortable level for me, but currently have a lot more surge than I'm comfortable with. Looking forward to some balance action in S6!

I run 2/8/31 or my pve build (8/2/31) and usually feel like I do pretty well in warzones. I'm almost top damage (usually 300k-500k) unless I'm off guarding a node or running the huttball or something. Of course, anecdotal, personal experience isn't at all as being viable for rated warznes. I've only run into one or two healers that I can't kill solo most of the time and usually do a minimum of dot spreading, preferring to focus down one target at a time. I feel like when pairing balance with another melee dps, preferably operative or sentinel we can drop targets very fast, even if they're guarded or getting healed. Whether this would be just as fast (or faster) with another class, I don't know. I do feel like being able to instant force lift another target while focusing your primary target is invaluable though. Once again, I have my doubts about how viable balance will be in rated warzones, especially given the utility/survivability both sentinels and guardians bring. I can't really speak for how well infiltration of kinetic combat might do.

You can always just ride over the top of the imp base as well, it shouldn't be a problem if you avoid the entrance/exit.

I used Bowdaar through Balmorra, I believe, and then decided to gear up Risha and so have been running double ranged dps ever since. I pull out Guss occasionally for his one-liners though.

I think most people like to either do a ss/sab hybrid (like 23/16/2 or something) or a sab/df hybrid (2/16/23, I think). I have also seen some pure sab builds out there. If you read the stickies they have some good info.

It isn't worth itemizing your gear for aim at all, as cunning is point for point stronger. It would, however, be helpful to grab the aim datacrons, as those should still increase your ranged damage/crit, even if only slightly.

I only have a level 46 gunslinger, but it's been a blast so far and the story/one-liners are great. However, I have a bm shadow and, as I'm not usually tank specced, good snipers are a real pain to fight. I've fought both the sharpshooter and dirty fighting builds and the good/well geared ones with smart positioning do just melt people. The really good ones will also be able to keep you cc'ed for quite a while as they wreck your team or simply position themselves where you'd be too exposed to attack. I'm fairly certain they have really good pve dps too. I think you should give it a shot. It's fairly complex and levels 15-25 were a bit rough for me, but since then it's been a blast.

I used to not run upheaval, then switched back as I like the added burst. I generally run 2/8/31 for pvp, for the extra move speed with the two points in kinetic for a higher crit chance. I can possibly see how killing a healer isn't so great on defense in voidstar, but it's necessary if you're on offense and a good idea in the other warzones too. Just as a random comment. Edit: Balance is certainly a mutable tree for pvp, depending on your playstyle. I'd suggest just playing around with something different every week and see what you like the most.

Main thing is, make sure your kinetic ward will last the 3 seconds while you channel, don't want that falling off halfway through

As I mentioned in the other thread, I haven't heard this before. It's not that I don't believe you (though I'm skeptical) but am interested in reading about it. Mind linking me to where this was determined? I don't really see any reason why infiltration should scale better than balance with weapon damage/force power, though I guess it's possible.

Hmm, I was under the impression that balance was ahead of infiltration the whole time, just not as useful on phase 3 Soa. At least, that's what I gleaned from browsing the sithwarrior forums, though they could be mistaken as well.

I think it's funny that people get so mad at other people when they can complain about the damage they do. Is damage done indicative of who wins the warzone? Not necessarily. That be said, it usually helps. Doing damage and completing objectives are not mutual exclusive. I regularly top damage charts on my shadow, and I say that not to brag, but to demonstrate that it can be done while following objectives, as I always go for the objectives first. If you are on voidstar and you're not defending the empty door, you will do a ton of damage. If you're a dps shadow, you should be off the door killing their healers while your healers and tanks watch the door. On offense, you should be trying to stealth cap the opposite door -sometimes- but other time it's better to be with the rest of your team. Likewise, in Alderaan, if you have two nodes from the start, it is likely you'll grab a lot of damage done from them zerging one or the other. I'm fact, I have got highest damage in Alderaan occasionally from just the initial fight in middle node and then swapping with someone guarding left so they could get some medals. Huttball is the one warzone where it can be detrimental to actually kill the other team. That being said, as a shadow, you can kill off enemy sages/sorcs on the upper levels fairly easily, which is necessary if they get the ball. Sure, it's great to say you should be running ahead of your ball carrier for a pass, but you could also be deathmatching it mid for control while your team scores or killing their healers/ball carrier. TLDR: objects and scoreboards aren't mutually exclusive: often times controlling objectives will give your team higher scoreboard numbers.

If you don't feel like tanking, balance is a very viable dps spec. Infiltration does pretty decent dps as well, though I'm pretty sure it lags somewhat behind balance in a pve environment.

I was making a point that I don't feel like I have a problem killing healers. If they cleanse force breach I can just reapply it, so that doesn't really bother me. Sever force is more for the root anyway. I don't tab dot everything, obviously, but hitting a couple targets affected by your FiB puts out quite a bit pressure while not having much impact on your force. I was under the impression that damaging the tank cleared the taunt. I could be wrong. Not sure why you feel it's necessary to resort to ad hominem insults. It's a bit immature.

I don't want to nerf shock. As a matter of fact, I don't care what they do with it. Arguing that project and shock should have the same delay (even if that delay is zero) because they're are mirrors is a good argument. Arguing that because project is "broken" (it isn't) is a silly argument. I will personally be disappointed if they change project so that it has no delay. Anyhow, I'm done repeating myself. If you can't learn to take advantage of projects delay and feel like you have to whine about it on the forums all day instead of learning how to use it, then I feel a bit sorry for you. I'm happy with the way it is.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you're bad It's just that whenever I come across a deception assassin, I usually end up resiliencing (is that even a word?) their burst after CS x2 about 95% of the time unless I'm stunned/low slashed. I know after I see yo-yo saber x2 that I should watch out for their adrenals/relics/force potency and be ready to pop resilience. I guess seeing a project particle would make this a ilttle easier, but it wouldn't really change much at all for me.

Yeah, I've had quite a lot of fun playing balance for the majority of the time it took me to get to battlemaster. I generally just use my pve spec to save some cash but I've tried a couple of different pvp-centric builds, my favourite being: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#6010MZGhZcMfRrMkrfz.1 I really feel like the increased run speed helps a lot with my playstyle and I like the added burst brought by a twin-discipled, find weakness shadow strike. Though, one might move points from project into Jedi Resistance or decreased stun cooldown. If you have the commendations, I'd suggest getting two piece force-master gear and itemizing for a bit more crit than you would as infiltration or kinetic. Three charges of force potency doesn't really do much at all for balance and the extra self-healing isn't insignificant. I've also been experimenting with the damage proc relic from KP. It seems promising, but hard to tell how it matches up with the matrix cube. Good luck! Edit: I still find I'm able to melt geared healers pretty fast, assuming I'm able to pop cooldowns with all my procs up. There's also decent incidental aoe from a couple tab-dotted force breaches + FiB to make target swapping a decent strategy in some cases. In addition, throwing up a force breach on their tank neutralizes his ability to taunt you.