Sniper Stats In-Depth PvE Discussion

[Aribethx]

I've been chatting with a lot of snipers on my server. Alot of the conversation surrounds the bemoaning of the surge nerf and what stats to prefer now.

 

I've done a cursory search and looked in the sticky at the top of this forum but no up to date information on stat preference for snipers is really out there to my knowledge.

 

Most snipers seem to now prefer dropping surge altogether, or keeping it very low. Half prefer to stack crit now to a certain % (unknown what this figure is) and power for the rest to maintain a sustained dps in PvE.

 

I'd like to hear from lvl 50, geared snipers that have been messing with their stats post-nerf. What hierarchy of stats do you now follow? Are you stacking anything? What are your minimum levels for crit/accuracy etc?

 

I do see the itemization discussion below. That has some useful information in it but seems to be centered around specific drops and gear questions. This discussion is for pure stats. Do we have a consensus in the sniper community in regards to stat preference and known required levels of accuracy/crit and so forth?

Edited February 20, 2012 by Aribethx

[dmdskitzo]

http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-Marksman-Sniper-Compendium#IV

 

There are resources at the bottom of that post that may help you.

[QisaBluevixen]

Has the compendium been updated to reflect the Surge nerf? It still has Surge listed pretty high in the priority list.

[Tibbel]

Has the compendium been updated to reflect the Surge nerf? It still has Surge listed pretty high in the priority list.

 

Yes. It is current as of the date listed at the top of the post.

 

(You may notice that the date listed is today's date. )

Edited February 21, 2012 by Tibbel

[QisaBluevixen]

I did notice that, but a lot of times you'll see people update the date whenever they change any section - even if other sections were left alone and have obsolete info.

 

So Surge may have been nerfed but is still highly desireable to MM Snipers? Everyone here seems to be dropping it completely, but you're saying that, mathematically, Surge (up to 150) should take priority over everything but weapon damage and accuracy?

Edited February 21, 2012 by QisaBluevixen

[Atharyia]

Not sure why you would drop surge or exactly how you would do it. All good enhancement mods for us are crit/surge or power/surge. Alacrity is just bad and we don't need that much accuracy. It leaves no other options. Even if you gear up power and crit, you're still going to get a lot of surge, and that's fine, since there is really nothing you can do about it until (or if) they release crit/power mods. I wouldn't go out of my way to gear for surge, but you should have no problem getting around the 250ish mark, without sacrificing other stats. Edited February 22, 2012 by Atharyia

[Tibbel]

So Surge may have been nerfed but is still highly desireable to MM Snipers? Everyone here seems to be dropping it completely, but you're saying that, mathematically, Surge (up to 150) should take priority over everything but weapon damage and accuracy?

 

Generally, yes. (The 150 number is an approximate number that depends on your other stats.)

 

The 1.1.3 nerfs to surge, contrary to what the patch notes said, actually made it diminish even more harshly than it did before. It starts out almost as good point-for-point as it was before, but it falls off that pace quite rapidly. Once you have just 125 surge rating, you're already at +15% crit damage, which is half of the total benefit you could get from surge. By the time you have 300 surge rating, you're only getting 0.03% per point.

 

Here's a graph showing the gain per point at different ratings. Note how surge after 1.1.3, the dark blue line, is even steeper than the light blue pre-1.1.3 surge line.

 

Not sure why you would drop surge or exactly how you would do it. All good enhancement mods for us are crit/surge or power/surge. Alacrity is just bad and we don't need that much accuracy. It leaves no other options. Even if you gear up power and crit, you're still going to get a lot of surge, and that fine, since there is really nothing you can do about it until (or if) they release crit/power mods. I wouldn't go out of my way to gear for surge, but you should have no problem getting around the 250ish mark, without sacrificing other stats.

 

Very much this.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Tibbel

[Tylerlee]

Cunning > Crit (350) > Surge (180) > Power > Crit (+350) > Surge (+180)

 

Accuracy is dependent on spec.

 

Sadly the only good Enhancements all contain Accuracy which in some specs, we do not need. and the crit/surge one deliver an undesirable amount of crit, if they reversed the numbers it would be more usable.

 

Atm i am switching my Accuraccy/Power and Crit Surge enhancements, to Accuracy Crit, with Lethality talents adding alot more crit% of the DR i feel focussing on crit is the way to go.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Tylerlee

[Xizari]

Cunning > Crit (350) > Surge (180) > Power > Crit (+350) > Surge (+180)

 

Accuracy is dependent on spec.

 

Sadly the only good Enhancements all contain Accuracy which in some specs, we do not need. and the crit/surge one deliver an undesirable amount of crit, if they reversed the numbers it would be more usable.

 

Atm i am switching my Accuraccy/Power and Crit Surge enhancements, to Accuracy Crit, with Lethality talents adding alot more crit% of the DR i feel focussing on crit is the way to go.

 

 

Our itemization is atrocious at the moment. Field Tech for example on a piece by piece basis is inferior to Enforcer. Our set bonuses are mediocre at best, terrible at worst. Our accuracy cap *as Marksman* is ENTIRELY too hard and DRs make it ridiculous to hit the soft cap of 108%. Our Rakata has NO Surge on it anywhere, and an abundance of crit. I'm at 41.95% self-buffed and I have 0 Surge Rating (I'm 5/5 Rakata, with both Rakata weapons, bracers, belt, and ear piece).

 

Example -

Rakata Enforcer Leggings: +122 Cunning +48 Crit +51 Accuracy

Rakata Field Tech Leggings: +112 Cunning +48 Crit +51 Accuracy

 

To tweak your stats to maximum effectiveness at the Rakata level, you need the mods/enhancements. Which are rare, and expensive.

 

 

The solution to our stat issues is to buff the Core Stats on Epic Gear (The "Armoring" that you cannot look at or tweak) and nerf the mods and enhancements. You will ultimately get the same stats, but if the best Mods/Enhancements could be crafted by Cybertech and Artifice, that would serve the dual purpose of fixing the uselessness of both crafting professions, and at the same time allow people to more easily and efficiently modify their stats.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Xizari