Carnifex-XIII
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Posts posted by Carnifex-XIII
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If you run a lot of the HEGC skills in AP, stick to using a generator (stats). HEGC and its skills give you better mobility and heat management. Shields have a very low chance to proc (5%) without skills and without using IGC.
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Retractable blade deals kinetic initial damage, but the dot is internal which isnt affected by armor. My damage numbers on this are 900 front plus a 1200 dot. Compare this to my numbers for Incendiary missle which are 300 damage plus a 1500 dot (spread over 18 instead of 15seconds.) Crits aside you are looking at 2100 vs 1800. Now with crits incendiary pulls ahead by a bit, especially on low targets however with its high energy cost its pretty much on only one target, i can throw retractable blade on 3-4 people, using it every global, without even going up a heat level.
Lastly you still get 60% armor pen as ap for railshot. This 30% less armor pen isnt what makes the difference in damage so much as the fact that you get the 30% critical strike damage talent as pyrotech and a 9% damage boost to it on burning targets. Right now i can get 3500's with rail shot still.
RB as a dot cannot compare to the Pyrotech's dot ability:
a) Pyro's have 2 dots in the way of CGC and IM. CGC is easily applied and reapplied by FB and RS (and when applied gets the first tick 100% for FB and 100% for RS if the target was burning). IM has a fairly heavy heat cost, but 30 m range is desirable for engaging targets and leaving gifts for runners.
b) Fire based dots have better synergy with abilities/skill trees:
-RB benefits from HEGC (5% damage), Prototype Cylinders (3% damage), Hot Iron (6%) and Serrated Blades (15% for the dot). It also sets up Charged Gauntlets.
-CGC and IM benefits from Intimidation (6% damage), Prototype Cylinders (3% crit chance), Prototype Burn Enhancers (6% crit chance), Superheated Gas (CGC 10% damage), Firebug (30% crit damage), and Burnout (3% crit chance and 30% damage on targets <30% hp). Both CGC and IM setup Superheated Rails, Rain of Fire, and CGC is tacked on each FB and RS (on burning targets).
Even if AP's RS = Pyro's RS, Pyro would still perform better because of RS resets. AP can only do RS every 15 sec. As an added bonus, the RS resets fuel Pyrotech's damage by venting heat on burning targets.
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As ap, everything is armor piercing; its all elemental damage. The highest hits ive gotten as pyrotech are in the 4.6k range. I'm not to far off as this spec, and i don't have to worry about getting shielded or dodged. And again 3k+ flame bursts i think are much nicer then the 2k crits i get with pyro even with the 1k damage proc. Yes i know that dot can crit and gets a bonus below 30%, however if the dot is up your second flame burst just does the 2k damage.
The last sentence is false. Even if CGC burning is currently on your target, you will ALWAYS get the first tick after an FB or RS as Pyrotech and get a refresh on CGC's duration. There is no worry about clipping the CGC dot.
Pyrotech has advantages over AP damage:
Pyrotech gets 2 dots (IM is 30 m range and CGC is applied by FB and reapplied by RS) compared to AP's 1.
TD does more damage than Immolate despite TD being kinetic damage and sharing the same cooldown.
Even if RS crits are guaranteed by AP, Pyrotech pulls ahead for every RS reset it gets.
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Being mobile in terms of not casting is true for Pyro PT. However, I feel Pyro PT is one of the slowest ACs. Pyro PT (in terms of 31-point investment) has no passive movement speed bonus nor charge/leaps (ala JK/SW or ST PT). Degauss helps, but overall your speed is only at best running speed (without external buffs). You're either moving at running speed or snared or rooted; that's it.
Luckily, Pyro PT is also one of the best ACs for keeping people in its range. 10 m FB w/ a guaranteed CGC snare and the usual PT/BH toolset definitely can offset that weakness. Then there's also ST/Pyro hybrids for mobility.
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Really would like to see the number of stacks reduced for Prototype Flame Thrower, but the damage per stack increased so that with 3 stacks, the damage would be the same. Also, perhaps change Prototype Flame Thrower to another name that could benefit Missile Blast. In this change, you'd have the option for aoe damage versus single target damage.
I find Immolate to be a bit too boring. It does the job, but it's just an upgraded Flame Blast w/ a cooldown and a cooler animation. Even Explosive Dart to Thermal Detonator has enough of a difference between them to be interesting.
Retractable Blade is fun to use, but due to the range and despite the heat cost, Incendiary Missile performs better (IMO). Some extra trauma (heal reduction) during the duration would be pretty cool. Maybe something similar to IA/Smugglers where Serrated Blades not only buffs the dot damage but also gives it a chance to tick twice.
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Also, Merc will also use Unload to proc Rail Shot resets in conjunction with Power Shot.
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I'm with others here on advocating for a 31 pyro build. A typical pyro build maxes out all the rail shot skills, but gives up good talents like steely resolve and intimidation/hot iron (depending on preference). Your build's damage may or may not be good, but if you're aiming to build a pyro pvp skipping TD can be a mistake.
TD pyro does great damage, but more importantly provides you an extra tool for bursting down pesky healers. TD can be used either to overcome a soon to be sorc/sage shield or burst down someone after a major defensive cooldown wears. TD>IM>RS as an opener is also an effective frontload that can catch people before they pop cooldowns.
I'm not too conviced though on the overall damage value of Steely Resolve's 9% aim bonus. Comparing a 31 pyro with a jet charge pyro (as a I dislike the common name of this build), I'll make an observation based on Rocket Punch. Both specs share Rocket Punch but only differ in Flame Surge (Rocket Punch crit damage) and Rain of Fire (Rocket Punch damage is increased by 9% on burning targets). Non-adrenal/non-wz buff/non-relic my 31 pyro build RP crits for 2.8k versus jet charge pyro critting for 2.6k. In which case the 9% aim is a weaker bonus to damage for RP and can be replaced elsewhere.
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Facts:
A geared op sub spec hitting a equally geared level 50 can bring that player down to 35% of their HPS in three seconds assuming the player hit is wearing light armor or chooses not to trinket the hidden strike. Notice I am stating a level 50 player equally geared not a new 50. If the target has any type of mitigation up (shields) we won't even get the target down to 60% most of the time. For this very reason I don't even attack consulars or powertechs because we can't kill them solo if they have half a brain.
Facts:
A hidden strike fills the targets reslove bar to full hence you can't be slowed or rooted at all and can kite at will for a short time. Recovering from this for most classes is not that hard but you do have to be quick.
Facts:
You may feel having between 35-70% of your HPs taken away on an opener as over powered but please look at the total damage done on the board after the bground is over. That op that killed you once or twice is probably not at the top of the board on damage or kills - almost never.
Facts:
Most Battlegrounds are Huttball. Sub Ops are pulled, sniped, knocked off, rooted, and pulled from stealth constantly due to the close environment and mobile objective gameplay. Hidden strike on a ball carrier actually is a liability as it fills that carriers reslove bar and he becomes cc immune for a short time.
Facts:
How many Op agents have ever seen score or run the ball for any significant period of time? I am not talking about a farming huttball where you are up on score 5-1 and just playing around. We have no sprint and no knockback making us worthless as ball carriers and almost useless once out of stealth. There are exceptions to this rule but not many.
Correction on the first fact I quoted above: cannot break out of knockdowns. This is a focal point for the call to nerf. The operative was free to choose when to engage with stealth and had no fear of counterattack for the knockdown's full duration. I would have been fine if the knockdown was a stun so it could be breakable (+ appropriate resolve bar). Yes, this advantage could be mitigated by staying in groups, but WZ progress and smart play from operatives/scoundrels can/does create solo situations.
Total damage of an operative/scoundrel is not indicative of them being weak. Their playstyle is about picking and choosing targets, not maximizing the number of targets hit by aoes or maximizing uptime in melee/dots. Picking weak/weakened targets or high-value targets and setting up for approach takes away time to do damage. Compare this to warriors/knights who close their gap instantly and being damage asap. Compare this to ranged who a longer threat range. This a weak argument.
Reputation also hit operatives/scoundrels pretty hard. Due to the high burst and threat thereof, the reaction of others would be to take down the glass cannons as quickly and regularly as possible.
I disagree to the severity of the nerfs, but agree in the decision to. They really needed a compensation on the sustained dps of the operative to balance out the nerfed opening burst.
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I'd rather see removing all the requirements for cover for all the shots and make them more energy expensive, but make taking cover have stronger benefits. Besides being uninterruptable currently, make it shave time off the activation or discount/refund energy cost.
This way, the player has to sacrifice efficiency for mobility and vice-versa.
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9% increase in aim does not equate to 9% increase in damage as each ability is increased by a percentage of our ranged/tech damage bonus from aim.
Hot Iron increases the damage of one of your most used ability since FB has no cooldown.
Burnout increases tech crit, which only exclude 3 abilities; rail shot, rapid shot, and unload.
Thermal detonator just on in-game tooltips is 600 damage increase from explosive dart. You can consider TD an upgraded ED on single targets. Not to mention you can still use ED for aoe fights.
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Avoid wasting Rail Shot resets. If the proc is up and you use RP/FB, you may get another reset. At this point, you didn't get to fire off your first RS, which would have vented some heat for you, hence wasted. So learn to pay attention to the proc in your buffs line, the fire screen proc animation, or the laugh.
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I doubt Steely Resolve (9% Aim) offsets the damage increase from Hot Iron and Burnout. Plus, you're sacrificing Thermal Detonator which helps your burst (in pvp), low heat, and effective at range when closing the gap or avoiding aoe.
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Pyro feels feast or famine sometimes. A lot of rail shot resets keeps your heat levels very low. Too few and well you're burning vent heat too early.
You can improve your heat managment by not being so quick to queue up another ability after FB or RP. Getting use to recognize either the proc animation or the proc buff itself will mean less wasted rail shot resets.
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I'm a pyrotech and I have used Blizz almost exclusively since acquiring him. I find him most useful in areas where Republic players are running about. He simply sits there and soaks up tons up damage and keeps aggro and while I pick off targets without risk of receiving any damage at all. Most of the non-warzone pvp involves ganking someone who's engaged with a mob anyway, so making it a fairer fight is great. Granted, he's too soft to tank heroic 4s and he needs some stun support from you when engaging elites. His life extends out quite a bit with proper interrupting of spells. Against elites, I normally finish unscathed (barring ion charged mobs) against elites while Blizz is about half. I have in the full tanking level 40 pvp gear. If downtime is a problem, simply dismiss him and resummon him and he's back to full hp (about 1.5 seconds worth of effort rather than using recharge and reload).
I definitely agree that tank companions in general need to be more durable. I'd love to see tank companions gain absorb bubbles when they use their taunt abilities or aoe abilities. Conversely, tanks could gain the ability to knockdown up to strongs or their attacks can interrupt to give them a niche over other types of companions.
I would like to see companions, as whole, gain better out of combat regeneration.
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It's really strange that people consider Pyrotech as a dot spec. As mentioned earlier, RS and RS procs plus TD (and their crit damage is multiplied late in the skill tree) are potent burst. Bursting Flame is the biggest improvement on FBs damage as it guarantees the first proc of CGC everytime you FB + all the CGC damage bonuses found in the tree. The dots from IM and CGC are for both utility and to maintain a minimum damage output. Granted, Pyrotech is harder to predict due to the 30%/45% chance for RS to reset, but the randomness keeps the rotations from feeling dull and mechanical.
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Thermal detonators and fully-invested rail shots are what I rely on to get the demolisher medal (2.5k in a single hit) in warzones. My very first thermal detonator crit for 2970. Back to back crit TD and RS is a beautiful thing to see.
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Pyro pvp becomes a lot of fun to play around the time you can start investing in Prototype Particle Accelerator + Superheated Rail. The free resetted rail shots offer strong burst, while alleviating some heat problems. Just try not to stack up too many commands in queue so that you don't waste the free rail shot procs.
Your smuggler dying less can be attributed to their ability to choose engagments. Gunslingers have range on their side, unlike powertechs which operate best at <10 m. Scoundrels have the luxury of choosing when to engage due to stealth.
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I'm not concerned about the pro vs con of switching to ion gas cylinder. Guarding a huttball carrier on the last stretch of the goal is very helpful. The damage from guard can break fragile CCs and what-not while waiting at one of the turrets.
However, a sith warrior can instantly switch lightsaber forms unlike bounty hunters. This gives them a bit more ease in making support decisions such as above.
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Gas cylinders and lightsaber forms are the stances of bounty hunters and sith warriors (which I play both). However, labersaber forms are instantly activated, while gas cylinders are 1.5 seconds. This is a problem when switching from an offensive gas cylinder to ion gas cylinder in order to guard a friendly. Furthermore, gas cylinders occassionally bug and will finish casting without changing the gas cylinder. Any else bothered by this?
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Thermal Detonator still has a good place in the Pyrotech tree as a high burst skill for a tree that specializes in a lot of damage over time.
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At the very worse, you can use flamethrower to punish those who are stealthed/just stealthed.
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Though, I was hoping they'd import warhammer's moving while channeled for similar attacks as flamethrower, flamethrower still has some very significant uses in PVP. It's not an aoe you can indiscriminantly throw around. It's solid aoe damage when Death from Above is on cooldown. It's fairly useful for a powertech since they're forced into close combat range of the flamethrower. In Huttball, the platforms force your opponents in tight clusters (especially if they're running the ball). You can easily flamethrower to soften up targets, get a few kills, and generally make it miserable to be a healer. With some distraction and/or CC you can get full duration and full damage out of flamethrower.
Question on Ravage
in Guardian / Juggernaut
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