Looking to start Smuggler, but... got some questions

[Sky_walkerPL]

1. Does any smuggler tree have AoE attacks? Which one has most/best of them?

2. What's the most mobile ranged smuggler tree?

3. Can smuggler work well as purely critic-based DPS? Or Trooper would be better for that one?

[Melkathi]

Obviously you can scrap scoundrels completly and only look at gunslingers.

 

Not having played a 'slinger myself, I can not give you the best info, I would assume though that a saboteur lobbing 'nades at the opposition has a fair AoE capability.

[FFdreamer]

Saboteur is a nice AOE tree in gunslinger. It still requires you to root to do most of your damage based abilities though, as is the whole problem with GS pvp based dps mechanics, but it's better than sharpshooter in the mobility category. Only mobile build would be dirty fighter, and even that is still lots weaker compared to it's other class counterparts. My opinion on gunslinger, the class is too squishy and no mobility and damage that isn't really any better than other classes, burst or sustainable, i'd prolly recommend looking else where, like at a trooper or sage or the imperial counterparts bounty hunter or agent. Edited February 1, 2012 by FFdreamer

[ikinai]

Obviously you can scrap scoundrels completly and only look at gunslingers.

 

Not having played a 'slinger myself, I can not give you the best info, I would assume though that a saboteur lobbing 'nades at the opposition has a fair AoE capability.

 

Saboteurs are AoE all the way, mostly, as far as smugglers are concerned. Your charges get extra area attack, nades do more damage, knockbacks/downs and so on.

[ikinai]

Saboteur is a nice AOE tree in gunslinger. It still requires you to root to do most of your damage based abilities though, as is the whole problem with GS pvp based dps mechanics, but it's better than sharpshooter. Only mobile build would be dirty fighter, and even that is still lots weaker compared to it's other class counterparts. The class is too squishy, i'd prolly recommend looking at a trooper.

 

You're talking it seems purely from a PvP perspective though, I don't PvP and don't feel squishy. I have a tank that soaks up my damage while I lob grenades at packs of enemies. Loot and move on.

[FFdreamer]

You're talking it seems purely from a PvP perspective though, I don't PvP and don't feel squishy. I have a tank that soaks up my damage while I lob grenades at packs of enemies. Loot and move on.

 

Yes I am talking strictly from a pvp perspective. PvE is a different matter, if you don't have trouble dodging mechanics, and team play, no class in this game is challenging for PvE content, in a guild who 2 weeks into raiding downed hard mode Soa and Kraga's Palace. By no means are we hard core. I see PvE challenge in this game as trivial at best. I'm also the type who goes into a fight knowning what to expect and the mechanics each monster and encounter have. My group focuses on execution. Now if your not like me, and like to go into encounters blind, then you have even less reason to play gunslinger, the class is the squishiest of all of the classes, even cloth classes have way more survivability then we do. Also dodging mechanics and damaging is much tougher when you need to be rooted in place to do the damage. You spend most of your time moving on hard encounters, and the least amount of time bursting in most ops situations. Hence I still recommend trooper, or sage. I like to steer people clear of the bad situation that is gunslinger / scoundrel atm. There is more fun to be found else where in game, this class is not the one your looking for.

Edited February 1, 2012 by FFdreamer

[ikinai]

Yes I am talking strictly from a pvp perspective. PvE is a different matter, if you don't have trouble dodging mechanics, and team play, no class in this game is challenging for PvE content, in a guild who 2 weeks into raiding downed hard mode Soa and Kraga's Palace. By no means are we hard core. I see PvE challenge in this game as trivial at best. I'm also the type who goes into a fight knowning what to expect and the mechanics each monster and encounter have. My group focuses on execution. Now if your not like me, and like to go into encounters blind, then you have even less reason to play gunslinger, the class is the squishiest of all of the classes, even cloth classes have way more survivability then we do. Also dodging mechanics and damaging is much tougher when you need to be rooted in place to do the damage. You spend most of your time moving on hard encounters, and the least amount of time bursting in most ops situations. Hence I still recommend trooper, or sage. I like to steer people clear of the bad situation that is gunslinger / scoundrel atm. There is more fun to be found else where in game, this class is not the one your looking for.

 

But, what if they want to play a smuggler and do AoE? I believe that was the question, so telling them to go play something not a smuggler didn't answer the question.

 

OP, don't listen to him, I have tons of fun playing my gunslinger and my scoundrel, some people just don't understand the smuggler and that's cool, so yes if you want to do AoE, saboteur is the way to go.

[Sky_walkerPL]

The reason I asked about the mobility is exactly that - PvP although I don't plan to focus on PvP with smuggler.

 

I play currently sharpshooter agent and don't really find lack of mobility a great issue in PvP, especially considering it's damage output, although I'd gladly look into mobile ranged damage class.

 

That's the reason why dirty fighter doesn't interest me much - for melee range combat I got my Jedi Shadow

 

 

And why should I avoid Scoundrel?

In general seems like people here think it's worse than Gunslinger - any specific reason for that? I guess mixed healer/DPS could do great work in PvP although I very rarely see these builds on my server.

 

But, what if they want to play a smuggler and do AoE? I believe that was the question, so telling them to go play something not a smuggler didn't answer the question.

Thanks for pointing it out Trooper will have his turn, no doubt. But for now the Smuggler is in focus

Edited February 1, 2012 by Sky_walkerPL

[ikinai]

It's just one tree in the scoundrel for PvP that got gimped the other day, the healing side isn't bad.

 

And actually, for PvP saboteur when done right is amazingly effective, mostly because the opposition typically see's you as a gunslinger or dirty fighter and don't expect a more mobile bomb tossing smuggler. There are more tools out of cover for the saboteur than there are for gunslinger. Sure, the one that is big you need for cover is sab-charge, but it really is the only one that you might miss out. You still have your grenades that are on fast cool down and do a good amount of damage while being mobile. Quick shot is nice on the move it's low energy high damage, shock charge you can use on the move with detonate.

 

Main thing really is setting a sab-charge then running around tossing bombs while finding another cover spot to reset sabotage. So it's not really as bad as people make it out to be, in fact it can do a massive amount of damage to a group in PvP. You won't get any medals for it, but you do your team a huge benefit.

[FFdreamer]

But, what if they want to play a smuggler and do AoE? I believe that was the question, so telling them to go play something not a smuggler didn't answer the question.

 

OP, don't listen to him, I have tons of fun playing my gunslinger and my scoundrel, some people just don't understand the smuggler and that's cool, so yes if you want to do AoE, saboteur is the way to go.

 

If my argument dissuades him from playing so be it, ultimately it's his choice. Just trying to offer him insight that gunslinger scoundrel isn't the only option in game. I play both at 50, both geared, also play a sage and trooper, both working towards 50.

 

The reason I asked about the mobility is exactly that - PvP although I don't plan to focus on PvP with smuggler.

 

I play currently sharpshooter agent and don't really find lack of mobility a great issue in PvP, especially considering it's damage output, although I'd gladly look into mobile ranged damage class.

 

That's the reason why dirty fighter doesn't interest me much - for melee range combat I got my Jedi Shadow

 

 

And why should I avoid Scoundrel?

In general seems like people here think it's worse than Gunslinger - any specific reason for that? I guess mixed healer/DPS could do great work in PvP although I very rarely see these builds on my server.

 

 

Thanks for pointing it out Trooper will have his turn, no doubt. But for now the Smuggler is in focus

 

 

Scoundrel was fun, in the way that any OP Flavor of the month class is. It was overpowered, and it was nice stealthing around and being able to essentially pop out and beat down a class in 3-4 hits is without them being able to do anything about it. But they were recently brought down, and atm are ineffective in the DPS category in the stealth tree anyways.

 

Healing their fine, and if heals are your thing than fire away. Dirty fighting has the same mentality in both classes, damage thru dots, but gunslinger does it better. But better still doesn't matter if it's bad, only being slightly better than worse.

 

This class is bad atm, needs a serious look over. Once nerfing / buffing / balancing act is done we'll see where the dust falls. Story wise smugglers story was fun, I like the snarky side of the game. PvE and PvP wise this class needs lots of attention, and until it receives it just pointing out you may enjoy other classes better balanced with good mechanics, less ability delay, and more mobility than this one.

[Aetou]

I play a Dirty Fighting Scoundrel (slight Hybrid 11/2/28ish) and really the build isn't as bad as a lot of people make out. You have a lot of utility (Stealth, SRMP, DOTs for cap-prevention, AOE snares) and a surprising amount of resilience (50% of the time Defense Screen is up and you regen about 5k health every 15 seconds.) While you struggle to get the big-hit medals you get a couple of healing medals to balance that out and can still definitely solo most people because of your increased survivability.

 

In Warzones that go the distance I typically average 200-250k damage (which is still good for DPS on my server, I'm typically in the top 1-3 despite being a hybrid) along with 100-150k healing. 7-9 Medals is a reasonable expectation and the fact I can hold nodes well and keep people alive without losing too much DPS seems to earn me a lot of respect and MVP votes too.

 

The main issues with the class is the lack of mobility - which is the main reason I went hybrid so now as I close in I can throw a Shrap Bomb, Vital Shot, Thermal Grenade (don't overlook this one, its similar damage to Quick Shot but at 30m and hitting multiple targets for just 3 energy more) along with putting HOTs on allies around the 60% mark. Once you get close its Blaster Whip, Wounding Shot, Grenades/Bombs. You do need to get close for the Upper Hands (without it, energy management is impossible) but its only Blaster Whip that you need to pull off once every 10s or so - everything else can be at longer range.

[Sky_walkerPL]

Thank you very much for the insight

Looks like it's gonna be a saboteur than. Tossing explosives sounds refreshing - I never really did such stuff in games in general, always was playing more of a tank / sniper, so it might be interesting role to play.

 

As for the reason why I go for smuggler:

First of all I need a character to do some more crafting for me, beyond stuff I do now to expand my shop offer

And secondly I'm interested in storyline - simply because I heard some good words about it. And after huge disappointment with Consular storyline I'd gladly see something bit better on Republic side.

 

 

But I got a final question: Does some of the saboteur grenades share the cooldown with cybertech grenades ?

[ikinai]

Thank you very much for the insight

Looks like it's gonna be a saboteur than. Tossing explosives sounds refreshing - I never really did such stuff in games in general, always was playing more of a tank / sniper, so it might be interesting role to play.

 

As for the reason why I go for smuggler:

First of all I need a character to do some more crafting for me, beyond stuff I do now to expand my shop offer

And secondly I'm interested in storyline - simply because I heard some good words about it. And after huge disappointment with Consular storyline I'd gladly see something bit better on Republic side.

 

 

But I got a final question: Does some of the saboteur grenades share the cooldown with cybertech grenades ?

 

They should be independent of one another, but my cybertech scoundrel just got to that point of making grenades, so haven't actually tested it myself.

[FFdreamer]

Thank you very much for the insight

Looks like it's gonna be a saboteur than. Tossing explosives sounds refreshing - I never really did such stuff in games in general, always was playing more of a tank / sniper, so it might be interesting role to play.

 

As for the reason why I go for smuggler:

First of all I need a character to do some more crafting for me, beyond stuff I do now to expand my shop offer

And secondly I'm interested in storyline - simply because I heard some good words about it. And after huge disappointment with Consular storyline I'd gladly see something bit better on Republic side.

 

 

But I got a final question: Does some of the saboteur grenades share the cooldown with cybertech grenades ?

 

Cybertech and abilities are both independant of each other, down side to the cyber tech ones is the 5 min CD after use, i had my scoundrel get em initially, and even after getting all the rakata grenades, even after the fix that locked the grenades to cybertech, i still ended up dropping it for Biomed, and slicing on the side since other toon passed mats over.

Edited February 1, 2012 by FFdreamer

[Melkathi]

And why should I avoid Scoundrel?

In general seems like people here think it's worse than Gunslinger - any specific reason for that? I guess mixed healer/DPS could do great work in PvP although I very rarely see these builds on my server.

 

 

You were specificly asking for "ranged" and "AoE", correct?

 

Scoundrel stealths in behind the enemy and gets close and personal with usually one enemy while keeping others CCed. Often you will want to make sure that AoEs are turned off on your companion so you do not hit more enemies than the one you are concentrating on.

Or you could play a healer scoundrel. Then you don't care about dps at all.

[Pandemoniac]

There's another thread about Scoundrel v. Gunslinger in pvp that you should probly look at. I'm scoundrel and am very satisfied with pvp abilities. As for AOE, we only really have Thermal Grenade, Sabotage Charge and Freighter Flyby. But if you want mobility, I really think Scoundrel is a no-brainer. A Gunslinger out of cover is usually dead pretty quickly.