Sttan Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 TLDR version: Does your Rapid Shots hit harder than your Flame Burst? Because mine does... I've been grinding out the levels as ST and just hit 50. While leveling I didn't care too much about what I was doing (pretty easy to grind as a tank with a healer companion but now that I'm starting to do hard modes I'm trying to figure out the best way to tank. I've read a couple tanking rotation threads that say your primary filler is Flame Burst > Rapid Shots, depending on heat. But I've just been using Flame Burst to keep the debuff up, and spamming Rapid Shots the rest of the time (it's nice to not need to worry about heat at all!) According to the tool tip, Flame Burst should be doing more damage, but that's not what I've been seeing. Of course, I could be completely 100% wrong, it's hard to say without any sort of damage log. Is this the same for everyone else? Is it a gear issue? My gun is pretty good, the rest of my gear sucks--maybe Flame Burst will surpass Rapid Shots damage at a certain level? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrkLore Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) TLDR version: Does your Rapid Shots hit harder than your Flame Burst? Because mine does... I've been grinding out the levels as ST and just hit 50. While leveling I didn't care too much about what I was doing (pretty easy to grind as a tank with a healer companion but now that I'm starting to do hard modes I'm trying to figure out the best way to tank. I've read a couple tanking rotation threads that say your primary filler is Flame Burst > Rapid Shots, depending on heat. But I've just been using Flame Burst to keep the debuff up, and spamming Rapid Shots the rest of the time (it's nice to not need to worry about heat at all!) They seem to do about the same damage to me. The major importance of Flame Burst is Combust so that's why it's good to keep in the rotation. Another thing is Flame Burst is elemental damage which penetrates armor, whereas Rapid Shots is energy based so it doesn't. Also, did you put points in to Intimidation? Because that adds 6% more fire power to it. Edited January 4, 2012 by DarrkLore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torothin Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Hey there. I have my build set up to whenever I do Fb or RP It has a chance to to stop the cool down for rail shot. I use flameburst to slow down the opposition, cause DOT with Combustible gas and it gives me the chance for a RS. I never use rapid shot so have no idea as to what you are trying to do here. Sorry if this sounds noobish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pellaz Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I've had this epiphany in recent days as well. It's very hard to be sure when you are just playing the game and not stopping to record every number (argh, combat log!), but anecdotally, this sure seems to be the case, despite what the tool tips (which rate FB as being better) say. One of the following seem to be happening: FB is being mitigated by armorRS is not being mitigated by armorThere's an illusory issue with the anecdotal evidence due to the way RS vs FB crits work (ie, you are likely to get at least 1 crit within a single RS; you are going to crit less often, but harder, on FB crits). I will do some actual testing tonight and see if I can get a firmer idea about what's going on, supposing I'm not too lazy, and will report back here. I suspect it's option #3, but that will be telling as well, as it will mean FB will really only be "better" on single target sustained fights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dardack Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 This is what I'm rocking: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301RMurbzroZ0MZbIbbdh.1 Buying supercommando gear, ripping the mods out and putting into elim gear, so I have tank stats, but elim 4 pc bonus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sttan Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 Ok, glad to hear it just isn't me! I really thought I was missing something major. Since heat was never an issue for me (since I'm only Flame Bursting once every 15 seconds for combust, and using rapid shots the rest of the time) I respeced into the 30/11/0 spec taking Retractable Blade over Heat Blast. So far it is working quite well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chainsawsamurai Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 (edited) This is what I'm rocking: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301RMurbzroZ0MZbIbbdh.1 Buying supercommando gear, ripping the mods out and putting into elim gear, so I have tank stats, but elim 4 pc bonus. That might be the best way to gear ST/Pyro unfortunately. Good luck on RNG pvp loot. I'd be happy with either set. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Edited January 5, 2012 by chainsawsamurai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pellaz Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Wow, the SCT makes this kind of testing really hard - going to have to switch methodology tonight. I was able to eliminate option 1 and 2 though, which leaves "3" or "bugged somewhere" next. I will spend a few minutes verifying numbers again tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dardack Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 That might be the best way to gear ST/Pyro unfortunately. Good luck on RNG pvp loot. I'd be happy with either set. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Yea just got my second boot set, so 1 elim, 3 super (as far as the 4 pc, i still have super for belt/bracers that don't have mods, count towards the pc bonus) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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