AdmiralOnasi Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I've leveled in the Scrapper tree since day 4 of early access, and I'm going to switch to DF with the massive nerf about to drop. What are some good builds, skill rotations, and battle strategies for a DF scoundrel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devhyn Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) This is my spec for operations: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701McZGZhrbkrMGdhR.1 Rotations can vary, but usually before a boss fight I toss out an Underworld Medicine for the Upper Hand to use Pugnacity. Afterwards... Shrap Bomb Vital Shot Hemo Blast Pistol Whip Wounding Shots Backblast Or you can open the fight with shoot first for another upper hand right away, but depending on the boss, running up to it in stealth is just a waste of time that could be better spent getting your rotation underway. After the initial rotation, I tend to just flurry of bolts until I can pistol whip, backblast, and wounding shots again and refresh shrap bomb, vital shot, and pugnacity as needed. Dirty Fighting is difficult to play because all of your attacks consume so much energy (and the stupid nature of smuggler energy recovery). Sorta gotta just play around until you get a feel for it. For PvP, I tend to use a hybrid with sawbones up to SRMP and the three talents above it. Gives me a bit more utility, but it's also an even bigger energy hog than full DF since you have to choose between cheaper wounding shots or 30s faster Cool Head. You can use a full DF spec for pvp, but it can be a lot more difficult to get Upper Hand when you need it. For full DF I'd replace either smuggled defenses or exploratory surgery with Feelin' Woozy for a nice AoE snare. Kinda up to you there though. Edited January 31, 2012 by Devhyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MFJD Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 if ur main concern is pvp viability then scrapper is just as good as it was, shoot first doesnt fill any resolve now so you can keep the stunned even longer. If PVE is your concern then dirty fighting is probably worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devhyn Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 if ur main concern is pvp viability then scrapper is just as good as it was, shoot first doesnt fill any resolve now so you can keep the stunned even longer. If PVE is your concern then dirty fighting is probably worth a try. Wouldn't really say it's just as good as it was. Can keep them stunned longer if their CC breaker is down. But it also deals 20% less damage, and the armor penetration on Flechette Round was lowered by 20%. So IF their CC breaker is down, you can keep them stunned longer and maybe get one more attack in to make up for the 20% damage reduction and -20% armor penetration. But your sustained damage is also going to drop some, and if the player warps after shoot first like it did before... same annoying deal as before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MFJD Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 well you are right. I shouldnt have phrased it as just as well as it was, but it isnt as bad as i feared it might be. Pve sucks tho =/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdmiralOnasi Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) Can any of you guys offer feedback on this build? I wanted to do some kind of hybrid build that would allow me to keep no energy cost on back blast, but you can't spec into that and get hemorrhaging blast on the same build. Can you do without hemorrhaging blast, or is it a powerful ability you really need? Also, can anyone give me feedback on this build? Edited January 31, 2012 by AdmiralOnasi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devhyn Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Can any of you guys offer feedback on this build? I wanted to do some kind of hybrid build that would allow me to keep no energy cost on back blast, but you can't spec into that and get hemorrhaging blast on the same build. Can you do without hemorrhaging blast, or is it a powerful ability you really need? Also, can anyone give me feedback on this build? First build is fine for PvE. I don't think the second one is really worth it, however. You're sacrificing Cold Blooded and Hemorrhaging Blast for a minimal increase in damage to Back Blast/Quick Shot (which you won't be using)/Blaster Whip, some more hp, and removing the 10 energy cost on Back Blast. I don't use hemo ever in PvP since I hybrid out heavily with sawbones, but... let's look at some numbers for PvE. My shrap bomb and vital shot do right around 1800 base damage over 21 seconds (if you neglect any kind of resistances a boss might have, and also ignore potential crit damage). That means they both do about 2340 *not* including crits with hemo blast on the mob (if you're reapplying at every chance). Throw in the 15% more damage if the boss 30% hp and under. Around 2600 damage not including crits (which happen quite a bit for me at 36% crit rate + 12% from 3 points in Black Market Equipment). Also, the points in Mortal Wound ensure that Vital Shot ticks twice in 1/4 ticks, so it's even more damage than that overall. My first try with DF presented a lot of problems with energy, but once you get a good rotation down and practice with timing, it's not so severe that you would benefit on having 0 energy cost on Back Blast. The 4% damage increase is also negligible, so I don't really feel like it's worth dropping HB and Cold Blooded. If you try it out, let me know. It's pretty difficult to tell what's more effective when we can't run parser/damage meter anyway. :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdmiralOnasi Posted February 1, 2012 Author Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) First build is fine for PvE. I don't think the second one is really worth it, however. You're sacrificing Cold Blooded and Hemorrhaging Blast for a minimal increase in damage to Back Blast/Quick Shot (which you won't be using)/Blaster Whip, some more hp, and removing the 10 energy cost on Back Blast. I don't use hemo ever in PvP since I hybrid out heavily with sawbones, but... let's look at some numbers for PvE. My shrap bomb and vital shot do right around 1800 base damage over 21 seconds (if you neglect any kind of resistances a boss might have, and also ignore potential crit damage). That means they both do about 2340 *not* including crits with hemo blast on the mob (if you're reapplying at every chance). Throw in the 15% more damage if the boss 30% hp and under. Around 2600 damage not including crits (which happen quite a bit for me at 36% crit rate + 12% from 3 points in Black Market Equipment). Also, the points in Mortal Wound ensure that Vital Shot ticks twice in 1/4 ticks, so it's even more damage than that overall. My first try with DF presented a lot of problems with energy, but once you get a good rotation down and practice with timing, it's not so severe that you would benefit on having 0 energy cost on Back Blast. The 4% damage increase is also negligible, so I don't really feel like it's worth dropping HB and Cold Blooded. If you try it out, let me know. It's pretty difficult to tell what's more effective when we can't run parser/damage meter anyway. :/ I specced into the second build and ran False Emperor (Hard Mode) with some guildies tonight. At first I really had no idea how to manage my energy and would blow through all of it in 4-5 GCDs. As we progressed, I found a really good rotation that was able to optimize damage dealt with energy consumption. I would use Vital Shot, Schrap Bomb, move in, Back Blast, Blaster Whip, Wounding Shots, move away. Energy consumption was almost a non issue with that rotation, and I was able to keep up a pretty steady steam of pain. Most battles had me kiting around, running in for the melee abilities, then backing away for a few GCDs to let energy recharge and cooldowns finish. My guildmates even remarked that it seemed like my overall DPS might have improved despite the massive nerf to my old tree. Case in point, we got Malgus down to 3% health before he became invulnerable. With my old Scraper build, we never got him lower than 9%. I haven't tried PvP yet, but I'll post about it when I do. Edited February 1, 2012 by AdmiralOnasi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintan Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Now is when we need dual spec so we don't have to spend credits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrathisKond Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Dirty Fighting is weird. It's not a psychologically satisfying spec, because all you see are a bunch of small numbers. I wish I could see the combined damage of Wounding Shot, because it "feels" weaker than backblast, which just frustrates the hell out of me considering that it should be the crown jewel of our spec, given how much resource it costs (3 talents, 2 attacks already up, 19 energy and an Upper Hand proc). Dirty fighting needs something to make it work as a Scoundrel spec, because after the nerfs, it really seems like our only viable PvE option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mangetsu Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I'm switching to DF too. I've played scrapper since I started the game. This latest nerf is just too much that I lost my interest in scrapper tree. This is what happens when you nerf a class like this Bioware; people respec to a different tree. Is this what you intended? If so, then I won't be surprised if DF gets nerfed hard in a future patch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasuli Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Does Hemo blast affect ticks of a bleed effect that is already present on a target OR does it only affect freshly applied bleeds after the blast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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