Most powerful Vanguard PvE DPS spec

[zachbuford]

Hey guys I've recently rolled a trooper (it is so fun) and happen to enjoy playing him more than the sage healer I played to 50. To be a non-conformist i made him go Vanguard DPS instead of Commando DPS like pretty much every other DPSing trooper. Being a PvE nut I've been playing around on the talent calculator to find the absolute maximum damage spec.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801hMZMsMZfhrbzGhMc.1

Is one spec I came up with to maximize Plasma Cell in the Assault Specialist tree. I skiped Assault Plastique and Adrenaline Fueled because compared to the bottom of the other trees they just don't seam as useful. By skipping those talents I had enough points to talent up the Assault Specialist's primary abilities.

 

I'm hoping by posting this here someone more experienced with the Trooper class could tell me if I'm doing this completly wrong, or if i somehow innovated AS DPS.

Edited February 2, 2012 by zachbuford

[shucksy]

Cookie cutter pure dps build, nothing innovative here.

[Kryptorchid]

Cookie cutter pure dps build, nothing innovative here.

 

Not even that. With the OP's spec you would lose sooo much by not having Assault Plastique and Adrenaline Fueled.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801hzZMsZfhMrzGhrs.1 would be much better IMO.

[Romgaard]

What the guy above me said.

Trust me.

Would swap 2 points into reflexive shield though, it is good.

And swap the 2 points from degauss to nightvisionscope ( for PvP that is)

Edited February 2, 2012 by Romgaard

[shucksy]

If you suggest AP then you don't understand the difference between DPS and burst, or the assault tree mechanics.

[Kryptorchid]

What the guy above me said.

Trust me.

Would swap 2 points into reflexive shield though, it is good.

And swap the 2 points from degauss to nightvisionscope ( for PvP that is)

 

This for PvP, but I was looking at Degauss as a boost to uptime if you are slowed in PvE (which is the OP's major concern).

[CygnisJunior]

If you suggest AP then you don't understand the difference between DPS and burst, or the assault tree mechanics.

 

Whats wrong with AP for PvE?

 

It does about 500 damage more than ion pulse, so if you toss that into your rotation instead of the occasional ion pulse it provides an extra 30 dps in the long run, which is an extra ~3% for just a single talent point. Is there something I'm missing?

[Hirokinae]

Well, assault plastique certainly is a powerful burst tool, the the main problem with it is that when you factor in the armor piercing aspect of high impact bolt, high impact bolt does more damage. I've tested this on mobs and players. My high impact bolt does more damage than assault plastique because AP is fully affected by armor. When you say AP is a straight 30 dps increase too, thats not true. You have to factor in the fact that ion pulse ignores armor completely, although you're right in saying AP still does more damage than ion pulse. Adreneline fueled is a very poor talent, but for pvp its ok. With the talent, you can usually reduce the cooldown of reserve powercell to about a minute, but the max ammo you can save is 3 per minute which is rather lackluster. Plus reserve powercell and recharge powercell are very buggy atm. Try doing an attack, then activating both abilities one right after the other, then try to attack again and you'll see. Sometimes they'll even trigger your GCD when they're not supposed to.

 

Being able to heal an extra minute is pretty nice too, but if we're talking maximizing pve dps here, its decent but not worth the talent points.

 

So the question is, if HIB does more damage than assault plastique, is it worth trading the chance to refresh HIB, rather than using AP? In addition, a ionic pulse HIB refresh means that HIB GAINS you 1 ammo, while using AP loses 2, so only using HIB and ion pulse would be easier on your ammo than AP.

 

In ADDITION, currently our pve gear set bonuses provide a striaght 8% increase in HIB damage. What this means, is that HIB is currently and undisputedly the best and hardest hitting ability we have. It does more damage than AP, while costing 1/3 ammo less.

 

I have a thread thats been gettin alot of attention lately on the issue, and would like to say that currently, everyone had very valid points. Its hard without solid evidence, and most of what we're saying is "heresay" but i plan to try my best to try to work out the math and provide some solid evidence.

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=161399

 

Ive found a way to kind of calculate the values for HIB hybrids vs Assault plastique. I'll keep you updated.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Hirokinae

[Waagabond]

6% more elemental damage, which would be for plasma cell and incend only, compared to assault plastique, which hits for around 50% more then sticky grenade.

Nahh...its not worth it.

[Flotsam]

It's not a perfect build but it has it's uses in group pvp....

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801ZMsrrobckZfhMrzu.1

 

 

Priority:

 

HIB > Stock Strike > Ion Pulse ... refreshing Incendary and Gut when down.

 

Using Ion Pulse can cause your Stockstrike to be free, and finish the CD on HIB and make it free.

 

Stockstrike causes your HIB to crit and finish the CD on HIB and make it free.

 

Incendary and Gut make it so you always can HIB.

 

The one problem is survivability... which will hurt a little, however....

 

Deguass and Hold the Line .. will keep you moving. 6 second Interupt is key to taking down healers.

 

Edit: Missed the PVE part. I think

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801hMhZMsMZfhbrzGhM.1

 

might be the highest DPS... not 100% though

Edited February 3, 2012 by Flotsam

[Flotsam]

Deguass is an important talent over Nightvision....

 

Keeping your butt on the target to do DPS is much more important then 3% end or nightvision...

 

This gives you two snare removers... and if timed right can rotate them.

[zachbuford]

Thanks for the advice everyone, but like I said I don't care too much for PvP and wanted to focus on PvE. Mathmatically though Burnout increases your overal DPS than the +9% aim. I was tempted to get the +9% but there simply weren't enough points.

 

This build reminds me slightly of a fire mage from WoW, only you fight in near-melee range most of the time. By keeping plasma cell on the enemy at all times I was hoping that my talent tree would fully maximize that damage.

[va_wanderer]

6% more elemental damage, which would be for plasma cell and incend only, compared to assault plastique, which hits for around 50% more then sticky grenade.

Nahh...its not worth it.

 

Incorrect. Ion Pulse is elemental damage as well. So is Pulse Cannon, for when you're delivering the AOE love at need, which for PvE is definitely happening.

[va_wanderer]

Thanks for the advice everyone, but like I said I don't care too much for PvP and wanted to focus on PvE. Mathmatically though Burnout increases your overal DPS than the +9% aim. I was tempted to get the +9% but there simply weren't enough points.

 

This build reminds me slightly of a fire mage from WoW, only you fight in near-melee range most of the time. By keeping plasma cell on the enemy at all times I was hoping that my talent tree would fully maximize that damage.

 

For the sheer crit chance, it's probably better to go with Blaster Augs, since that gives you the +3% Tech crit bonus for one point and you'll probably want Demolition + Focused Impact anyway, especially since FI is good synergy with anyone trying to pump out as many HIB's as possible. Three points for 3% Tech crit and an "execute" vs. one point for 3% and then you can drop the two points into something else for less conditional DPS? Option #2, IMHO.

 

Now what I want to figure out is exactly what DOTs stack and how. We can stack a plasma and IR DOT on targets, but can we get one from Hammer Shot, one from Ion Pulse, and then the long burn from IR on top of both?