ByeToWoW Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Background I have a level 50 and rank 43 Valor Operative with about 5% expertise. So, I have *some* feeling on the fundamentals of how Sniper works. My Op spec varies, but I have the most fun with Lethality, which made me curious about the Sniper, and subsequently Lethality spec, for the Sniper. My focus will be on solo-queuing PvP and some small-group-queuing PvP. Group queuing will generally be with a Mercenary healer. 1) Energy Management Sniper's Nest vs Imperial Methodology vs Lethal Purpose -Which single ability provides the largest gain? -If I were to maximize my energy regeneration even more by getting 2/3, which two synergize best with each other? 2) Survivability -Can anyone direct me to info on a spec that can be considered the most "tanky"? -More specifically, what skills in particular are necessary for PvP, and what skills aren't necessary, but you may find very useful. Remember, focusing on survivability with this question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phlaago Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I'm not yet 50 but so far I played marksman to 30, switched to lethality and at 41 i switched to engineering because cull did not synergise with interrogation probe. 1) energy management.. snipers nest is best for a single point, however when i played lethality i was often out of cover moving around which makes snipers nest less useful... imperial methodology... works fine for me but engineering heavy spec is no energy hog since i have no extra instant attacks (such as followthrough) and no cull to eat energy and also no talent to boost my alacrity... downside to imperial methodology is if you kill the target before all clusterbombs detonate you dont get full benefit. I dont know if lethal purpose works... hard to spot without combatlog, I used to think it works... but I cant really tell if that was my imagination or not =) I would say let your choice of defensive abilties dictate what energymanagement skill you go for. 2) survivability for engineering heavy builds shieldprobe and a adrenaline probe talented for a small heal is very nice.. but as a lethality build you wont have enough points to get EMP discharge which is what really makes those 2 skills shine (removing cooldowns upon use allowing for a 2nd use in the same fight) this almost inevitably leads us to marksman tree for survivability where we find goodies such as ballistic dampeners and distraction.. I miss these 2 alot.. especially in fights against other snipers. (cover screen i guess can be nice too... especially combined with distraction, as long as the enemy cant fill those seconds with strong tech attacks instead or just cc you.. neither of which cares a fig for your ranged defense) talenting for cooldown reduction on evasion and escape is of course possible if you go lethality but a 3s ability is not really "tanky" so much as it just lets you **** of there. I will try lethality hybrid again once i hit 50.. here is what I am going for: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#400bZbIMboRZGbMkrdMzM.1 not so much focus on tanking damage.. more about escaping... double cc breakers, double 30% snares (one of which is aoe).. flashbang talented for accuracy debuff on breaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducksmyth Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Snipers nest is 1 energy per second Imperial methodology is 15 energy per 30 seconds and some free damage (only around 900 if memory serves). 0.5 energy per second. Lethal purpose is 2 energy per poison dot crit. Assuming 50% dot crit, 2 dots and a tick every 3 seconds (most unsure about this part) with 100% uptime gives you 2 energy per 3 seconds. 0.666 energy per second average. Lethal purpose also cuts the adrenaline probe cd by 30 seconds. Its only 50 energy per 120 seconds base so changing that to be every 90 seconds could be said to be worth roughly 0.13888 energy per second. Snipers nest is best at current crit rates. This is all single target. More than one target strongly favours lethality, though in practice the aoe of corrosive grenade is teenytiny so its not as awesome as you might hope. The other thing to consider is snipers nest and imperial methodology are both reliable, lethal purpose isn't. You can't have a lethality rotation because of this. Nothing can be planned. If you are going hybrid for pve, snipers nest and one of the others. I'd prefer imperial methodology just because it's an easier rotation. With a lethal purpose build you are going to have to watch your energy bar insanely closely. Hybrid marks/eng just plays like a marks spec with more energy and another dot. On the other hand lethal purpose has more potential. Pure marks may be the best for damage. Its certainly much easier to execute than lethality pve. Till a combat log is in whatever is in the sniper spreadsheet thread is probably the best guess see what you get there from playing with it. The most tanky build would be some sort of 11/30/0 build. Balistic dampners and diversion are probably our best tanking abilities. Diversion is minus accuracy so its the one avoidance based defence that actually works! On top of this Engineers can get 12% health back, 6% dr in cover and 2 +30% shield probes in a fight where they pop everything. However shield probe is super weak to the point where im sure a single charge of balistic dampners is worth more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phlaago Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) I agree imperial meth and especially snipers nest do their energy recovery jobs best... but both of these are not available to a lethality spec.. at most you can get 1, Because noone gets a lethality spec without cull, that would be like driving a car with a broken gearbox and stuck in 1st. Edited January 19, 2012 by Phlaago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByeToWoW Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 I agree imperial meth and especially snipers nest do their energy recovery jobs best... but both of these are not available to a lethality spec.. at most you can get 1, Because noone gets a lethality spec without cull, that would be like driving a car with a broken gearbox and stuck in 1st. Just looked at a skill calculator on Torhead.com and yes it is possible to get Cull + either of the the other trees' energy regen abilities. 16/00/25 or 00/16/25 But, Cull w/o weakening blast may not be so useful... have to test it out later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByeToWoW Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 I appreciate the replies so far, especially the numbers with the energy regen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irenicus_Jon Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 What I use: http://torguild.net/calculator/imperial-agent/sniper/?p=00000000000000000000223120221000010000023020211222203120000 I am still a mobile lethality sniper, I usually pop corrosive grenade and dart, followed by cull, then I'll go into cover (assuming the fight is stationary) to pop off an instant snipe (and maybe explosive drone). I lose a shot on the run (weakening blast) but I do not feel my damage is downgraded too much. I feel that unless I purposefully try to burn it all (empty out, adrenaline probe, empty out again) I don't actually have to resort to auto-attack. The trouble with this build is choosing when to enter cover, your mind wants to enter cover whenever possible, but if you do that you lose the mobility afforded by lethality. I usually enter cover when I'm firing into a stationary fight (defending a turret for example) and I am in a defensible, hard to reach (or not desirable to reach) location. Popping into cover for an instant snipe coupled with a short defense buff is also an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanzBlix Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Stay operative for pvp is my advice, use sniper for PvE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightyHalo Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Stay operative for pvp is my advice, use sniper for PvE. lol please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanzBlix Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 lol please Bestow upon me your mighty wisdom? Operatives destroy people in PvP, Snipers can in PvP if you are playing against terrible nubs that don't come kill you first. This is rare. You might be playing against terribads in PvP, but maybe not all servers are filled with nubs? I own face damage in PvE with my sniper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightyHalo Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Bestow upon me your mighty wisdom? Operatives destroy people in PvP, Snipers can in PvP if you are playing against terrible nubs that don't come kill you first. This is rare. You might be playing against terribads in PvP, but maybe not all servers are filled with nubs? I own face damage in PvE with my sniper. You worked in nubs and terribads, now maybe grow up a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanzBlix Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 You worked in nubs and terribads, now maybe grow up a little. So basically you added no information or tips, and continued to troll moar? I'm the one that needs to grow up? LOL Please /quit and go back to WoW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyris_Xiandrii Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Background I have a level 50 and rank 43 Valor Operative with about 5% expertise. So, I have *some* feeling on the fundamentals of how Sniper works. My Op spec varies, but I have the most fun with Lethality, which made me curious about the Sniper, and subsequently Lethality spec, for the Sniper. My focus will be on solo-queuing PvP and some small-group-queuing PvP. Group queuing will generally be with a Mercenary healer. 1) Energy Management Sniper's Nest vs Imperial Methodology vs Lethal Purpose -Which single ability provides the largest gain? -If I were to maximize my energy regeneration even more by getting 2/3, which two synergize best with each other? 2) Survivability -Can anyone direct me to info on a spec that can be considered the most "tanky"? -More specifically, what skills in particular are necessary for PvP, and what skills aren't necessary, but you may find very useful. Remember, focusing on survivability with this question. I can't remember what the talent is called, but there is a talent that gives you 2 energy everytime you crit with a poison tick. If you aoe poison + corrosive dart in pvp, you get a ton of energy regen back as for tanky spec, I would say eng or leth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByeToWoW Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Wow... I just noticed that cover pulse cooldown is reduced by 33% from the Lethality tree. Even if I end up sucking, that one ability, on a short 20 second cooldown, will make me smile indefinitely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts