thecoffeecup Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 (edited) NOTE: This is meant as a PvE-only thread, and it isn't about overall class balance. Hope you can respect that. I have both an operative and a new scoundrel that I'm focusing on now. Only used concealment/scrapper until now. At level 33 I tried dirty fighting before going back to scrapper at 34. I know this doesn't count as endgame experience (but I will say that I have done many years of raiding in That MMO), but all I want to say is that the tree certainly shows promise. It really does. It has some potentially fun mechanics, could do some good damage too. However, I cannot figure out how I'm supposed to keep up with Upper Hand and energy, I just can't. If anyone has some pointers, I'd love the hear it. After starting the fight, you need to get Pugnacity rolling ASAP. That's one Upper Hand gone. Ideally you have one up at all times, so only on your third UH do you actually do Wounding Shots. To get your money's worth out of Wounding Shots, you need Vital Shot and Shrap running. Lots of energy. Then once Pugnacity runs out, you need to refresh it, so that's one Wounding Shots you'll be missing. I don't see that management becoming better once I get the top tier talent either. And yet, here comes the funny part, I felt like I was doing more damage than I was with my scrapper... after a while anyway. Maybe I am fooling myself though. I was certainly doing the most damage in the party, to the point where I kept pulling aggro from the tank even when using Surrender. I also *think* I was downing strong mobs faster. Could be because a lot of Dirty Fighting damage bypasses armor I suppose. Is anyone successfully using this for ops/FPs? Got any idea about the damage output as compared to scrapper? Ultimately my goal is to to endgame PvE, and I simply want to try to get used to a reasonable endgame spec already now. Edited February 2, 2012 by thecoffeecup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enediol Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Been trying it for a few days and dislike it because energy goes down too fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuey Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Scrapper is a burst dps tree whilst DF is a sustained dps tree. Throw in the recent nerfs, the DF tree is going to be doing significantly more dps than scrapper at later levels. At your current level I must say I'm surprised that you find DF as a better dps. But something to keep in mind is that with scoundrels, the idea is to CC targets then wipe the enemies out a target at a time. Shrap bomb can be a pain since its liable to break CCs. At later levels, you need those CCs to survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kheldras Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I still wonder if a Hybrid Setup with Dirty Fighting up to Wounding Shots, and Sawbones up to Medpack Mastry would be the solution, to get the upper hands needed. Did not yet find the energy and log my Scoundrel to respec & try, as i have more fun leveling my new Vanguard Main. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vartius Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Are you with others or solo with companion? I think Dirty Fighting would work better in groups and be good for sustained damage but as a solo I love scrapper. Divide and conquer with the CC abilities and burst. The most fun fights have tough bios and droids so I can lock 2 down for a minute then pick them off one at a time. I hated level 40 because I respecced to get Flechette and lost Exploratory Surgery 2. The upper hand effect on it lets you enter fights with Pugnacity already up. Or in my case I lost the HoT effect of it from Scrapper tree and I was living with it on at the fights start for any challenges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecoffeecup Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) I tried it for a while both "solo" (with Risha) and in groups. In groups I felt it was OK except for the energy problem and refreshing Pugnacity. I outdamaged the others by far from what I can tell, and I certainly had enough aggro. Then again, I have a good amount of MMO experience and am pretty much always on the ball But there's no doubt that scrapper works better for solo leveling. The health regen talent alone is huge for reducing downtime (think about it, in one Shrap Bomb's duration you will regen 21/3 * 2% = 14% of your total health, and then you will regen while running between groups as well), and chaining Suckerpunches on weak mobs is just brilliant. With dirty fighting I had a good amount of downtime. Edited February 3, 2012 by thecoffeecup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blarse Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I still wonder if a Hybrid Setup with Dirty Fighting up to Wounding Shots, and Sawbones up to Medpack Mastry would be the solution, to get the upper hands needed. Did not yet find the energy and log my Scoundrel to respec & try, as i have more fun leveling my new Vanguard Main. Something like this is what I assume you had in mind? http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffMzhZZhrbkrMhd.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devhyn Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Thus far as PvE flashpoints/ops go, Dirty Fighting is fine. It's heavy on the energy bit pretty much no matter what you do (after practice, you do get better at managing it and timing things efficiently), but you get a free +10 energy from pugnacity and 1m30s Cool Head instead to keep you going. As for hybrid... Kind of a pvp only option. DF+Sawbones isn't all that great for pve thanks to enrage timers. If you're eating a pure dps slot to do backup heals and backup dps, chances are that some bosses will be very difficult unless the rest of your group is well-geared and on the ball the entire run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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