Skills Rotation for merc

[Daclif]

Hey everyone,

 

I am kind of new at this and I was wondering if any of you might have a few tips on which rotation of skills I should be using in combat? I seem to overheat a lot and I have trouble with the elites, FYI I am at level 14 right now. Also I am trying to come up with a key-binding system and would be open to suggestions.

 

Thanks.

[DarthRilous]

You have to mix in rapid shots (your base ability) after every couple of attacks. The goal is to keep your heat under 40%. I'm not much farther than you (lvl 21) but I just mix up unload, my missle attacks and rapid shots. Once you get tracer missle, you want to try to stack that up, then use rail shot. Not sure how the other skills play out, since I haven't gotten them yet.

[Alex_le_Sang]

Around that level I used mostly (vs single target) Explosive Dart + Missile Blast + Unload + Rapid Shots to reduce heat, then again Missile Blast. Add Electro Dart if you feel you need it. Vs pack of mobs Death from Above + Sweeping blasters + Rapid shots + kill anyone who's still alive with anything you like.

 

Main thing is heat management. Merc reduces heat with greatest rate (5 heat/secs, if I'm not mistaken) if you have 0-40% heat, so you really don't want to have more than 40% heat. That means that Missile Blast - Missile Blast - Missile Blast - Rapid Shots - Rapid shots will give you much more heat than Missile Blast - Rapid Shots - Missile Blast - Rapid Shots - Missile Blast. Just try to keep your heat <40% and you'll be fine.

 

About elites - vs melee elites just run & Missile Blast, vs ranged use whatever you like. If you find it too hard to kill, try to make Mako tank for you (send her attack 1st, Ctrl+1 by default). If it's still too hard, try some space missions or other quests for 1-2 levels of xp and return again.

[Betabane]

Arsenal spec should be spamming Tracer missiles by lvl 20, low heat cost high damage and good debuff. 2 Missiles per mob at lower levels 2+Rapid shots later on, very gear dependant mind you.

 

On multiple clustered mobs i use Death from Above->Sweeping Blasters or the AoE-Missile Missile->Sweeping blasters. Elites is just Tracer Missile spam and Rail shot, sometimes with Electrodart to buy time for heat dissipation.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Betabane

[DonPulle]

My rotation at lvl 41, goes like this:

 

Elite:

 

Tracer -> Tracer -> Tracer -> Unload -> HeatSeeking -> Tracer -> Tracer -> Rail Shot

 

After this i just spam Tracer and Rail, and Unload when ever buff pops.

 

 

Non-Elite:

 

Death from above -> Sweep -> Sweep -> Finish them with Tracer and Rail.

[Elrias]

I'm gonna say a bit of stuff related to damage rotation in general, and only then say something about rotation on lower levels.

 

The single-target damage rotation you're gonna be looking for on higher levels is:

 

- tracer missile, tracer missile, tracer missile, heat-seeking missile, tracer missile, tracer missile, rail shot.

- Throw in Unload whenever barrage triggers.

 

The rationale behind this is the following:

 

- When you are fully arsenal-specced, every tracer missile puts 2 heat signatures on the target, up to a maximum of 5. After 3 tracer missiles, you have reached the point when you have the maximum number of heat signatures on the target, so that is the point when heat-seeking missile is most effective.

 

- In addition to the heat signatures, the repeated use of tracer missile also makes your next rail shot more and more effective. Rail shot reaches its maximum damage output after 5 tracer missiles; this is why it is useful to throw in 2 more tracer missiles before you finally use rail shot.

 

- Unload is most effective when barrage triggers. As we cannot influence when exactly that happens, it's most effective to pay attention to that, and throw in Unload whenever it triggers.

 

Several of these abilities are not available on lower levels: You get tracer missile at level 20 (but only if you have put all your points into the arsenal tree from lvl 11 to lvl 20!). Tracer missile is very cheap as far as heat is concerned, and deals a solid amount of damage, so your play will normally be based on spaming tracer missile, with the occasional rail shot in-between.

 

Before level 20, most of your fights will be against groups of weaker NPCs; battles against strong, single enemies are rare. In group battles, just use a combination of Death from above, sweep, explosive dart, and flame thrower, and use unload to finish off enemies on low health.