Power shot: Am I doing it wrong?

[PURGATUS]

Pyro build BH here. I PVE 95% of the time, but after a little PVP I figured I may as well switch to a pyro build for mobility. As it turns out, it feels more "BHish" because of the mobility.

 

Anywho, as a result, I know I should be using Powershot in my build. I REALLY wanna, but it seems like everytime I try to work it in, I get shot/hit during the activation. So rrryone talkin about 1.5 sec activation and it melds great with the GCD are wrong for me: this power only has like a 30% chance to refresh Railshot (which I love), BUT the damn thing takes so long to cast (at times), I feel I'm better off rapid shotting it.

 

So the question: should I look into the pushback (what does it really do anyways? in layman's terms). OR alacrity (thought it only helped the CD of powers--so N/A for me?) OOOR just stick with Rapid Shots?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Stranded_Law]

If someone's trained on you, use Unload. If you're clear to fire, use Power Shot. It does great damage, and works very well with our other abilities, you just have to know when to use it.

[Mrs_Murder]

 

So the question: should I look into the pushback (what does it really do anyways? in layman's terms). OR alacrity (thought it only helped the CD of powers--so N/A for me?) OOOR just stick with Rapid Shots?

 

Thanks in advance!

What you should do is stop using power shot. Only use it if rail shot, thermal detonator and unload are on cooldown. Unload has a higher chance to proc free rail shot, so yeah.. stop using power shot. It's not your main attack. In fact, it's not even a secondary attack. It's a "Oh everything is on CD"-attack. I very rarely use it in PVP.

[Bobaphat]

Thermal Detonator then Power shot. The TD will blow up roughly the same time for a good burst.

[Defang]

I like using the combo of Incendiary > Thermal Detonator > Power Shot > Rail Shot.

 

I can usually take someone down 40-60% of their health with this depending on trinkets and crits.

 

With Power Shot its important to only use it when not being attacked. I know you'll find yourself being attacked a bunch so strafe and use rapid/instants until then. Unload is fine to use while being attacked.

 

Pyro isn't really about constantly putting attacks into people while being attacked, its kind of like whittling them down while you get into a better position.

[PURGATUS]

yo thanks, great replies

[DarkenDragon]

Im a terrible PVP player but since my friends love it I join them whenever they're on

 

but I do fairly well in most cases, the thing I noticed that works best for me is higher ground, position yourself such that it will require them to either only use ranged attacks or they need to move around more to get to me,

 

in hutt ball im always on top of the catwalks and in aldarran im standing on top of something.

 

but the idea of playing a stationary mercenary is to keep your distance, and dont rush in.

 

harder than it seems I know but its whats worked for me so far.

[Godofmars]

I like using the combo of Incendiary > Thermal Detonator > Power Shot > Rail Shot.

I can usually take someone down 40-60% of their health with this depending on trinkets and crits.

 

With Power Shot its important to only use it when not being attacked. I know you'll find yourself being attacked a bunch so strafe and use rapid/instants until then. Unload is fine to use while being attacked.

 

Pyro isn't really about constantly putting attacks into people while being attacked, its kind of like whittling them down while you get into a better position.

 

Thats dumb. You should have Rail shot ahead of Power Shot. Why? Rail Shot has a good chance to pop again after using Unload and Power Shot. Rail Shot is your best weapon. Should ALWAYS use it when it is up.

 

Suggest reading the Pyro tree again and you will understand.

[Stranded_Law]

What it should be instead is:

 

1. Incendiary Missile + Rail Shot

 

2. Thermal Detonator + Power Shot + Rail Shot(30% chance to have procced)

 

3. Then as they panic and try to run, E-Dart and Unload + Rail Shot(60% chance to have procced) as my character laughs like an evil bastard.

 

Those three steps will unleash about 6-7k damage for my orange-geared lvl 41 on same-level elites.

[Battilea]

So the question: should I look into the pushback (what does it really do anyways? in layman's terms). OR alacrity (thought it only helped the CD of powers--so N/A for me?) OOOR just stick with Rapid Shots?

 

Pushback reduced by 50% means that your casting time only gets pushed back half as far. Say you were 1.3s into the 1.5s time. Then you got hit and the damage was enough to push it back by 0.4s. Normally, you'd go from 1.3 to 0.9s, so you'd have 0.6s to go. With 50% pushback, you'd go from 1.3s to 1.1s, only 0.4s to go.

 

Note that that's for an ability like Power Shot, with a cast time. For channeled abilities that can suffer from pushback, like Unload, it functions differently, essentially shortening the channel time. And since it does damage every X amount of time, a shorter channel time means less ticks of damage.

 

I've taken 2/3 in the pushback skill for my build, for PvE reasons. In a perfect world, the tank has aggro on everything and it isn't necessary, but in reality, you're often burning down silvers while the tank is playing with the rest. I find with 2/3, it works out quite well. The downside though is that this comes at a cost 4% crit chance, which would work out to be about a 2-2.5% reduction in damage in a perfect, never pushbacked world.

 

I wouldn't advise Alacrity. The main constraining thing for Pyro DPS is heat. Alacrity would come at a cost of DPS raising stats and, thanks to the heat, you cannot really take advantage of the faster activation times to counteract the lower damage per activation.

Edited January 30, 2012 by Battilea

[salamanderx]

I wouldn't advise Alacrity. The main constraining thing for Pyro DPS is heat. Alacrity would come at a cost of DPS raising stats and, thanks to the heat, you cannot really take advantage of the faster activation times to counteract the lower damage per activation.

 

Not sure I agree with that. With alacrity you can be moving sooner, pulling off your attack before people notice sooner, and you can be using your rapid shots sooner generating more dps. Also your attack is more bursty, you will beat out that next heal by fractions of a second sometimes.

 

Being on the move again asap is priceless to me, but my playstyle is a bit unique.

 

Just sayin'