This is the response I was looking for thank you. I was wondering why a hybrid like this wouldn't work. The build I present allows for a poisoned target 100% of the time giving laceration a 50% chance to proc TA. However; based on your arument that is not a beneficial trade off for going 31 points in concealment, or lethality. I also was focusing on energy regen through stim boost as a never ending regen of energy and health. However; in a raid this doesn't seem to benefit you as much as dps. Also I was looking at more versatility than just using a few skills, i.e. tracer missle mercs...However; being exteremly effective with a few abilities is far superiour to being versitle, especially pvp and raid. As an added note changing talents around in order to pick up Cull may make this a better hybrid. As for the other comments I gathered through reading other posts that corrosive dart was useless. IMO corrosive dart is under utilized.

That's all I read in here. So lets NERF all the Classes. Everyone should have to wear light armor, no special ranged abilities, no bubbles, no heals, no CC. Just light armor, a knife and a blaster with equal gear and no stats for everyone....oh wait this is an MMO not MW3.

Flawed logic. On PvP servers PvE and PvP will never be seperate worlds. Also skill determines who gets the best of gear. LvL 50s who hardly play PvP and have no clue how to play will never get the gear of someone who has the skill to play PvP, same goes for PvE. Gear is directly inlocked in a players skill. If skill didn't play a factor than 90% of all MMO subscribers would have all high lvl raid gear/pvp gear...obviously that doesn't happen...cept in WoW...Welfare EPICS FTW, LMAO

Laceration procs TA 50% of the time on poisoned targets. If you are using BS with acid blade you lose that ability because you cannot maintain a poisoned target. If corrosive dart is always going to be up why not increase its ability. If your target isn't always poisoned you lose 3% damage increase across the board. I guess I'm not seeing what your seeing. You talk about heavy single target DPS however you lack a constant poisoned target which needed to get an extra 3% damage, your corrosive dart is uterly useless even if it is always up. It takes 15 energy to coat your weapon, get behind him and hit him with BS when for 20 energy I can throw a gernade, use 1 less ability, and have a consistently poisoned target and I don't have to do anything special to use it. Its not a mediocure build when I don't have restrictions to using my abilities. I'm not going to constantly try to get behind my target to apply a poison when I can just hit them with a gernade. Here are all the benefits from this build. Overload Shot 13% damage increase (includes culling benefit) 6% chance to crit Laceration 3% damage increase (includes culling benefit) 50% change to give 100% to re-apply TA, only when hitting a poisoned target Stim Boost Reduce CD by 15 sec Restores 10 energy instantly Restores 2% total health every 3 seconds Sever Tendon 100% chance to immobilize for 2 sec Cloaking Screen No reduced health penalty Debilitate 3% damage increase (includes culling benefit) Reduce CD by 15 sec Increase moving speed by 30% for 4 sec Carbine Burst 9% damage increase (includes culling benefit) 6% chance to crit Corrosive Gernade 18% chance to crit 3% damage increase (includes culling benefit) when re-applied

All these comments are valid but I still see flaws in them. How do you generate TA for cull without being in melee range? Operatives are basically have to melee to generate TA. Taking laceration gives you a chance to proc TA. Why rely on acid blade to have a harder hitting BS? Acid blade affects last for only 6 seconds. BS has a cooldown of 9 seconds so there is a 3 second lapse of time with no poison negating Culling's affect on damage. Corrosive gernade lasts 21 seconds with a 12 second cooldown, giving you 9 seconds of overlap so your abilities are always benefiting from culling's affect. Also who doesn't want a 20 sec CD to regen energy through SB. Culling's increase in damage is always up due to use of corrosive gernade and affects multiple targets. Laceration helps proc TA. SB can be used every 20 seconds, generate instant energy, and self heal. Lethal Dose increases crit of each tick for CG and Corrosive Dart. FG hits harder when CG has been used. Corrosive Dart is more effective. lower CD on deliberate means BS can be used more often. AoE never hurts DPS I'm not saying this is the highest output of damage available to operatives. I'm looking at it as finding useful talents that can always benefit me.

True but Cull requires TA and how do you get TA in lethality without using backstab or hidden strike. The Operative is bound to melee in order to generate TA, but you should haven't to have acid blade to be effective. The talents in lethality benefit more than just two attacks and that is why I would skip acid blade for a gernade and higher crit with period based abilities.

The great debate. What is the real difference between these two trees? What tree is better? The first difference between the two is the use and generation of TA. TA by default is only gained through shiv and hidden strike, or you can talent and get it on a heal and only the lethality tree lacks a TA proc talent. Because of that lethality is arguably the least favored tree. Concealment isn't worth it without acid blade? I disagree. Until you talent Culling and Acid blade no ability uses poison and does not benefit from poison. Even if you do get acid blade it only benefits two attacks, hidden strike and backstab. Both you must be behind the target and hidden strike you have to be in stealth. Lethality on the other hand has talents built around poison and amplifying poison damage. So my solution is this. A hybrid build that takes advantage of poison with the melee advantages of laceration for TA procs not found in the lethality tree. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401ZGhModkrcZhrbkr0h.1 IMO acid blade is worthless outside an opening attack, so why spec 31 points just to get it. I can get corrosive gernade and have an ability I can use at any time to poison targets even from range. Lethal dose makes corrosive gernade have a higher crit per tick and also corrosive dart gets a benefit from it as well. Culling gives corrosive gernade a higher base damage out the gate without the penalty of targets having to be below 30% health which is found in devouring microbes talent. You still get the use of laceration with a TA proc bonus. IMO having a stim boost with a 20 second timer and a self-heal is always a bonus. The key talents I see in this build are Lethality Tree: Corrosive Gernade, Combat Stims, and Lethal Dose Concealment Tree: All Lacerations talents, revitilizers, and culling Other talents are debatable, but I believe those talents listed above are a necessity to truely capitalize on poison without having to have acid blade. This build elimantes the following disadvantages. The thought of having to be in stealth to be useful Getting kited due to lack of range abilities Ability to be useful outside an opening attack This build provides the following benefits. A mechanic to generate energy on a more frequent basis An AoE based ability that can be used even in melee combat without restrictions More damaging periodic affects Capitilizes on melee combat and range combat Greater CC utility Thoughts?

I like this a little better. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401MffbzGZ0cZGbbkr0h.1 It makes diagnostic scan a little more powerful and an additional energy regen. Also for healing I can't ignore survival training.

It makes sense when you look at it from a MW3 point a view. Who the hell runs around in a gun fight and pulls out a knife to kill someone...

Ya'll are silly. If you look up the actual abilities an Operative will gain (excluding talent abilities) this is what you'll see. 5, 4 meter melee range abilities, 1 of which is CC. 6, 10 meter range abilities, 4 of which are CC. 14, 30 meter range abilities, 1 buff, 1 CC, 3 heals, and 2 require cover. (The CC is droid hacking) That means of our abilities this is what we have for damage 4, 4 meter damage abilities. 2, 10 meter damage abilities. 7, 30 meter damage abilities. The remaining 12 abilities you get (37 in all, excluding passive, and general abilities) are utility or basic abilities. So with that said an Operative is not a Melee Class by any means, or a Ranged Class. An Operative is a weaken by range, CC them when they get close and finish them with melee. Plus you can heal and go stealth. So I disagree we are not melee or ranged specific.

disregard...

All, I've been playing around with a hybrid build that would take full advantage of OP abilities of healing, melee and range and maximize tatical advantage and energy regen. So here is the build I came up with and wanted everyone's thoughts on what they thought. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401MfZhcG0dzbZhrbkrb.1 This build revolves around a few key abilities. Shiv - your basic melee attack that always grants a tatical advantage. Talents are taken to maximize its damage. Corrosive Dart - your basic range DoT. Talents are taken to maximize its damage, duration, and reduce its cost. Stim Boost - even though it consumes a tactical advantage, talents are taken to maximize its effectiveness to include a self heal and lower cooldown. Basically this is a self sufficient build that would utilize shiv to give a tactical advantage used to regen energy and health. At the same time using corrosive dart as a DoT. Other dmg/heal abilities would benefit from the additional talents for an overall affective self sufficient build designed for pve/pvp with little downtime. What do you all think?