Shadow who wants epic DPS

[icegrx]

Should I go with Power or Crit?

and Infiltration or Balance?

I Love to pvp, but Id also like to have some solo ability in class quests.

 

Thanks for the help guys!

[SakuraiSan]

For me, I will go for critical and INF spec. For me, inf is the most damage dealing spec. Thus, I do not need power. If I work on my critical, I can really pack a punch to people.

[icegrx]

Thats exactly what I was thinking. Thank you

[madmilitia]

For me, I will go for critical and INF spec. For me, inf is the most damage dealing spec. Thus, I do not need power. If I work on my critical, I can really pack a punch to people.

 

in PVP, inf is not so great in PVE as the longer fights force you to use saber strike to regain force which is bad.

[Dreamsinger]

I jusrt discussed this with some guildies and this is the one thing we are all up in the air about.

Crit or Power FOR Shadow DPS.

 

Here is my thinking on it.

 

INF Shadows: have more hits overall in comparison meaning your crit chance is slightly better by virtue of number of hits in a rotation to begin with. (combine this with 2/31/8 Upheaval build which further increases crit chances for melee strikes) Now raise the % chance for each of those hits to crit and the DMG per % of crit should balloon quite nicely. also keep in mind that surge rating often comes paired with crit.

 

Balance Shadows: have fewer hits per rotation relying on greater damage per hit as well as DoT damage, making power make more sense for this build as each hit needs to reliably count for more.

 

I have not crunched numbers for this, and as such this has been merely my thoughts on strategy.

[Jeckll]

It's quite hard to go for an individual stat in SW:TOR since PvP Gear is already extremly good and it has predefined stats on it.

 

Sure, you can alter the Mods/Enchantments but I never saw better mods than the ones that are already in the Champion/Battlemaster Gear.

[Darkspeaker]

For me, I will go for critical and INF spec. For me, inf is the most damage dealing spec. Thus, I do not need power. If I work on my critical, I can really pack a punch to people.

 

You do realize that the power stat raises damage on all abilities, melee or otherwise right?

[SakuraiSan]

You do realize that the power stat raises damage on all abilities, melee or otherwise right?

 

I think Critical Rating adds more to the critical chance.

[Zunzun]

We'd need some theorycrafting about that.

 

- Power is a stand-alone stat.

- Crit has to be coupled to surge.

 

So Power seems more appealing, but since most items improve 2 ratings, we're not able to raise a single rating. So Power would have to be coupled to another rating. In that case, since Crit and Surge synergize well, they may be the best way to go.

 

But since there are very few high-end items for each slot, you're likely to end with a mix of all 3 in the end, as tank end up with Defense/Shield/Absorption. Unless you want to spend a lot of time and money to get Mods and Enhancements from a specific high-end item.

[Phandy]

Crit/Surge seem to out perform Power/Accuracy (typically coupled with Power) until Surge starts to get diminishing returns. I am still testing to figure out excatly when this happens but it is apparent Surge does get "worse" the more you have. At this point Power will become more important again.

[Kitru]

Should I go with Power or Crit?

 

This depends on the spec you choose.

 

Infiltration will see benefits in either Power *or* Crit, since it doesn't have any benefits of critting beyond additional damage, which Power does just as well. If you are Inf, it's a question of whether you want more crits or more damage overall. Without intense theorycrafting and running sims, it's impossible to know definitively, but I expect that they're roughly even.

 

For Balance, Crit is your secondary stat of choice since Balance gets non-damage benefits (like a self heal) when its DoTs and other attacks crit and makes those crits bigger.

 

Infiltration or Balance?

 

Infiltration is going to be the squishier set but generally better for PvP playstyles that most players prefer (Infil is gank-y whereas Balance is much more denial oriented and warzone focused).

 

Balance will be hardier, thanks in part to additional ranged viability (you still want to run around in melee, but you have a few abilities that can be used when you've gotta run way from a nasty AoE or get knocked away), averaged threat generation (because you use a lot of DoTs), and copious amounts of tiny self heals (they don't seem like much individually, but they add up quickly).

 

For leveling, Inf will start out better, plateau right as Balance starts getting its wind (around the early-mid 20s), and be worse until about level 40. After that, both sets are pretty good, though, anecdotal evidence (from pretty much every post-40 Inf I've ever talked to in game) suggests that the squishiness of Inf really hurts you in the post-40 leveling scene when enemies start hitting harder and fights get substantially tougher. Virtually all of the non-PvP Infiltrations I encountered while leveling respec'd to Balance or Kinetic in their 30s or 40s because they felt that Infiltration was just too onerous and couldn't effectively deal with the plethora of more dangerous fights that the game throws at you (lots of non-special elites to be spread through quest locations making your life substantially more difficult).