MM PvP: what to use

[Andf]

Good evening,

I started playing a Sniper and I picked a MM build, focusing on PvP. Right now at lvl 19 and have one question for more experienced Marksmen.

 

At lvl 50, you use Ambush, Snipe, Followthrough & Exp. Probe in your regular rotation/priority or do you have something else?

 

I ask because I like to plan a bit ahead for my keybindings, so far I left one slot for Followthrough.

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited March 7, 2012 by Andf

[ntyzor]

yes those 4 + Shattered Shot + Takedown + Flashbang + Leg Shot + Debilitate + occasionally some Orbital Strike.

 

You picked up quite a challenging class, if not the most challenging, but it pays well once you master it.

[Gaidax]

Reserve space for SoS.

[Gudchen]

There are not many skills I don't have on a hotkey. Those are either skills I never use (Headshot/ Eviscerate and the 20minute cd) or skills I dont use in combat (buff, recuperate)

To you really intent to click skills in combat?

 

Maybe my hotkey setup might help you:

 

Movement: E S D F

1 Ambush

2 Snipe

3 Series of Shots

4 Followthrough

5 Takedown

6 Explosive Probe

Shift 1 Laze Target

Shift 2 Power Relic

Shift 3 Target Aquired

Shift 4 PvP Adrenal

 

Q Corrosive Dart

Shift Q Shiv

W Scatter Shot

Shift W PvP Medpack

R Frag Grenade

T Slice Driod

Shift T Overload Shot

Z Adrenaline Probe

A Evasion

Shift A Throw Huttball

G Deliberate

H Flashbang

B Shield Probe

Shift B Balistic Shield

N Orbital Strike

Shift N Entrench

Y Supressive Fire

 

Mouse 3 Rifle Shot

Shift Mouse 3 Leg Shot

Mouse 4 Rapid Fire

Shift Mouse 4 Distraction

 

I think I forgot something, but can't figure out what it is. Shift G is missing, but would be a great spot for another hotkey...

Edited March 7, 2012 by Gudchen

[dcgregorya]

I'm a gunslinger so I'll try to change the names to the sniper skills but the very common marksmen skills I use are (along with my keybindings and ranked from most used roughly to least used) :

 

Basic Attack - E

Snipe - V

Entrench - Shift+V

Followthroughh - G

Series of Shots - R

Rapid Fire - Shift+R

Ambush - T

Orbital Strike - Shift + T

Explosive Probe - Q

Debilitate - H

Leg Shot - B

Shiv - Y

Flash Bang - Z

Escape - X

Frag Grenade - U

Shatter Shot - C

Corrosive Dart - Shift+C

Adrenaline Probe - K

Takedown - 1

Evasion - 2

Suppressive Fire - 3

Ballistic Screen - 4

Knockback - 5

Shield Probe - Mouse button 4

Interrupt - Middle mouse button

Target of Target - Mouse button 5

Focus Target modifier - Shift + Mouse button 5

Relic pop - Shift + Q

Medipack - M

Target Aquired - Shift + A

[Migey]

At level 50, i'd say you shouldn't be MM full stop. It's not the optimal PvP spec. If you do decide to though, then you want the 23/16/2 spec, not full MM (MM up to followthrough + modifying talents, Engi up to Interrogation probe and Imperial Methodology and 2 points in leth for 4% crit).

 

As for openers.

 

It really depends. If someone attacks you, you don't have the luxury of setting up your opener. Thus you need to do the fastest, most efficient damage possible. So a good idea would be to drop into cover, pop Laze Target and use your instant snipe, followthrough, and then as your Snipe was an instant autocrit, you can then have a 1.5second Ambush. This can be before or after cover pulse, although if its before then make sure you have Entrench popped. Afterwards, depending on if its a high armor target or not, you may want to use Interrogation probe, however, generally Int Probe for MM is only useful if your kiting a not heavily armored target, which means its useful against non darkness Assassins, Operatives, and Marauders. After the initial combo however, Explosive Probe + Series of Shots is generally a good idea. However note this all changes if you get the jump with Flashbang (it's not a good idea to use it at all times, yet it gives you a great 8 seconds to position yourself and set up if you want.

 

If you get the jump with Flashbang then -

 

Explosive Probe - Orbital Strike (depending, its amazing if you use it with opener and Leg Shot) - Ambush - Leg Shot if Orb Strike - Followthrough - Snipe - Series of Shots - Followthrough - Takedown

 

If you don't, and get attacked, then what i'd do is.

 

Cover (obv) - Entrench - Laze Target/Cover Pulse (use both in whatever order) - InstaSnipe - Followthrough - Ambush - Leg Shot - Explosive Probe - Series of Shots.

 

In the above opener, using Orbital Strike on yourself is a good idea if your fighting a melee - that, + Entrench and even Ballistic Shield allows you to just sit there, take punishment, and deal out a ton of damage. Its the 'Come at me bro' combo, and is quite effective.

[TheRagingPwner]

Don't listen to people that tell you which spec is the "best" pvp spec. It all maters how you like to play. I play 31/7/3 spec because its the best burst spec and I want to burst people down as fast as I can. Some people play the MM/Eng spec which has less burst but more utility and others play some form of lethality which is more DoT based. All are viable specs. I have played them all pretty extensively. Play what feels comfortable to you.

 

Sniper is probably the hardest class to play along with Marauder though so get ready for the huge learning curve. Some aren't able to handle it so they complain about being underpowered on the forums.

[Dasamukha]

The sniper pvp community, as represented on these forums, are divided on the best tactics strategy and spec.

 

The best I can do is give you pointers.

 

Lethality builds have the advantage of movement and their damage is not mitigated by armor. Lethality depends on four basic moves so it has a lower learning curve. Other abilities mixed in are helpful but situational. Lethality does not come into its own until you can reach cull and razor rounds. I would not recommend it as a pvp leveling build until you can reach cull.

 

Lethality Abilities (Primmer style):

 

Basic rotation/abilities: Corrosive Grenade; Corrosive Dart; Explosive Probe; Cull and Weakening Blast. (Weakening Blast is subject to debate, some snipers go with more hybrid builds that eschew weakening blast in favor of other abilities that are lower in the other trees.)

 

Corrosive Grenade has the added bonus of slowing your opponents and adds a significant damage over time. Its most effective when there are groups but is still viable for single targets.

 

Corrosive Dart: A instant cast, global cooldown ability. It is moderately expensive, but is strong enough to be tab targeted in a group for extra damage.

 

Explosive Probe has a short dot associated which strengthens your . . .

 

Cull: When you absolutely want to take the opponent down. Cull is your hardest hitting ability. It needs dots to be effective.

 

Weakening blast. Has limited uses because it tends to harass an opponent more than but taking the opponent out. But 10 ticks of extra damage is still extra damage. I like to use it when I am chasing an opponent after a cull or where I am trying to burn down a healer.

 

Lethality builds are fairly straight forward, apply dots, use cull. You can also throw a grenade spread around corrosive darts until you are out of energy, use your adrenalin probe and get back in business. Add in a snipes, or series of shots or an ambush and you have a basic simple attack strategy that can be used on the run or in cover. The advantage of Lethality to someone new to class is it allows them to move like other characters and to learn the finer points of strategy, tactics and placement. Lethality is also not as choosy about its targets.

 

My experience: Lethality has the highest potential game damage. I think of myself as an average player but I can top 300K damage with lethality on a fairly regular basis. It has single target stopping power on any class/player that does not clear the dots. Against BM level players you can take a significant amount of their health, but to actually kill them, you will need to cycle through 2 Culls minimum. Against new pvp players, a one cycle cull will take more than 70% of their life leaving them vulnerable to takedown and snipe as finishers. The build allows you to stay on the move for most abilities and allows high mobility, and smooth interaction with your team.

 

Marksman:

 

I suspect that most haters of snipers are using marksmen. The name conjures heavy hitting shots with high damage potential. Sadly that is not the case in most instances. Marks will leave you feeling helpless sometimes. However, you have moments where suddenly you get all the cooldowns aligned and the right target chosen and you see Marks in its true majesty. Its just harder to pull off and occurs fewer times per match.

 

Pointers: Understand that Marks has to be set up properly. If you simply plunk down into cover and shoot snipes you will be disappointed.

 

Marks abilities are mitigated by armor and other defensive abilities. Your ambush crit on a sorc will do about 60% less damage to a jugg tank. It sucks, just get over it and move on. It is the way the class/tree is designed.

 

Follow-thru -- IS the ability that defines marks. It becomes active after a snipe or an ambush, and hits for nearly the same amount of damage. It has a 6 second cooldown and should be used as often as possible. No matter your rotation, snipe --> follow thru or ambush --> follow thru needs to be in your rotation. Its like peanut butter and jelly.

 

Scatter Shot: Light hitting ability, but removes 20% of the armor of the opponent. Almost every ability takes advantage of the 20% armor reduction. Apply it before you concentrate on any one opponent.

 

Ambush: Heavy damage because the build usually has Ambush ignore some of the opponents armor. Its the one ability that can get you the 5K medal. Scatter shot, pop adrenals, hit your relic and pray for a crit. Choose something in a dress as a target. Remember to follow thru. (Also set up your shots)

 

Snipe: The bread and butter, moderately hard hitting. Use laze target to set up an auto crit, use follow thru and then ambush on the 1.5 second shoot time. (Remember what I said about set up your shots).

 

Series of Shots/Rapid fire. Of limited use in pvp, is really more of a pve ability. SoS does solid but not great damage. Seeing the ball carrier run away with a 700-900 SoS running can be disheartening. Still it has its uses. SoS combined with rapid fire allows you to regenerate energy while still maintaining pressure on the target and burns off time for your other abilities to move off of cooldown. While the SOS is running you can peak around and see what is happening behind you.

 

Marksmen is particularly hard to play. Everything you do is 1.5 seconds later because you jump behind cover. Marksmen suffer terribly against tanks or players with high mitigation. It is almost a necessity that you choose other targets. In addition, the tactics and strategies for getting into the proper positions are still required.

 

My experience: Marks can do solid damage and get a solid haul of medals. As an average player I find I can top 200K easily in long matches, but I have yet to go over 300K. My highest crit has been 5.5K but since the surg nerf, I find that 4.5-4.8 to be the norm. The success or lack there of depends on having plenty of targets who ignore your position and having plenty of sorc/sage healers. Dieing a lot or having a lack of targets cripples your performance. Your best war zone is void star where people tend to focus more on the doors and on those players going for the doors. This tends to leave players at reduced health, and allows marks to use its single burst power, ambush, follow thru take down, to waste another player. In highly fluid situation. Marks is going to suffer. All of your hard hitting abilities require cover. In cover you are stationary. This makes you suitable for defense in huttball and a support player on offense. Civil war is the most challenging because you will not have lots of targets and by its nature you will be singled out for elimination.

 

Engineering:

 

For a variety of reasons you don't hear many players talk about engineering as a pvp spec. Simply put, it has nothing over lethality in terms of constant damage, and must stay in cover. So it has no advantages and all the disadvantages. Explosive probe, cluster bombs and 3 second grenades are cool, but don't make up for the disadvantages.

 

For the reasons stated above, engineering stays in the back ground as a part of the hybrid builds, but is not a pvp tree per se.

 

I hope this helps.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Dasamukha

[Tibbel]

Explosive Probe has a short dot associated which strengthens your . . . Cull

 

Just to clarify: Explosive Probe only applies a DoT on standard or weak targets (not players). Even if it did, Cull only gains extra ticks from poison DoTs (Corrosive Dart and Corrosive Grenade).

 

Marksmen is particularly hard to play. Everything you do is 1.5 seconds later because you jump behind cover.

 

Cover does not trigger a GCD. The only required wait time is based on latency (the server recognizing that you're in cover).

 

... or until your root wears off. :\

[Andf]

Thank you very much for your answers. Being a long time MMO player, I already use my own keybinding maps and it's pretty unusual

 

I only have one doubt left... Based on your experience using a MM build, do you regularly use Shatter Shot, it's limited to heavy armored targets or you just ignore it? It doesn't look there is a clear consensus about that.

Edited March 8, 2012 by Andf

[Findulidas]

... or until your root wears off. :\

 

Which is an significant bug worth mentioning in pvp. If your are rooted there wont be a cover.

[KennehBE]

i use it on every target, 20% more damage is good...

even if your shattershot gets deflected, the debuff is still on the target

[Migey]

@ Dasamukha (guy who made the really long post last page)

 

Sorry to say but alot of what you say in regards to Lethality is plain old wrong.

 

First, about what you said about c-nade.

 

It does not have a slow - the Slow is 30% (ie, almost useless, since any class which would be annoyed by a slow you can keep away anyway) and must be specced into, which is a waste of points in that tier unless you go into 31 Leth, which is inadviseable. You fail to mention that Corrosive Grenade is the single most powerful Sniper DoT - as it ignores armor and gets 30% more damage from crits with Experimental Explosives (which anyone with an EngiLeth spec should have instead of Razor Rounds) and also boosts Cull.

 

While EngiLeth is better then pure Leth is almost every instance, Weakening Blast is still more effective then you make it out to be - it boosts a large part of your damage by 30%; your two DoTs and the poison bonus part of Cull (which comes form hitting a DoTed target). This means that it gives a huge burst bonus.

 

Explosive Probe does not have a short DoT. Where the hell did that come from? It has Cluster Bombs if you branch into the hybrid EngiLeth spec (which i argue is the most superior out of all Sniper specs) but they are not a DoT - they are a debuff which does a small amount of damage when activated by Cull, SoS, Snipe, Ambush, one or two other weapon based spells and your auto attack.

 

Corrosive Dart tab targeting? Thats the worst idea i've ever heard. It's damage, while somewhat good, is still not worth the high energy cost unless you will be using it with Cull. Tab targeting it on a group is a TERRIBLE idea, and will do MUCH less damage then spamming Frag Nade on a group would (and you should have specced into 3 sec cooldown for it). Corrosive Dart is the weakest Sniper DoT, even Interrogation Probe is stronger, as its higher damage outweighs its mitigation by armor when compared to C-dart.

 

You say you can add Snipe into an attack rotation. WHAT? Any Leth or EngiLeth Sniper who uses Snipe really needs to get a firmer grasp of how to play the spec. Snipe is one of the worst Sniper spells - a cast time, high energy cost, moderate damage mitigated by armor. It's use is in MM where it has slightly higher damage and more important procs Followthrough (which makes up for Snipes inefficiency by being the single most efficient damage spell Snipers have). However as EngiLeth you do not have an over-abundance of energy (with Cull costing 30 energy) unless your crit is at 88% for energy regen (before you check, it isn't) you should NEVER waste energy on a Snipe. I do admit that Ambush and SoS are very useful however, being very high damage and rather efficient spells, and their cooldowns are rarely a problem with EngiLeth, as you have alot of other spells to use.

 

You say that Lethality is not as choosy about its targets. Thats utter bullsh*t, and one of the few advantages MM has over EngiLeth or Leth is that it can switch targets with ease. A Leth based spec has a ramp up time (not a very long one, but it does have it) as its most powerful ability, Cull, requires two DoTs up to use. As Leth you need to apply C-dart, C-nade if it isn't already on from AoE, then either Explosive Probe or Weakening Blast depending on spec, then Cull. Thats 3 GCDs of ramp-up. It's not too long, and i never find it very problematic, but its certainly longer then MMs max ramp up time of 1 GCD for Shatter Shot. MM doesn't need to ramp up anything - any spell it hits with will hit at its highest possible (with Shatter Shot up). As MM you can be unloading on one target and if he moves away, instantly move to another with Snipes, Followthroughs, Ambushes and SoS.

 

Apologies for the very long post, but i wished to correct some of the huger mistakes you made while talking about Lethality.

 

Note to all about EngiLeth v Leth. There is not a huge amount of difference - EngiLeth has Explosive Probe and Leth has Weakening Blast (And Explosive Probe too, but it's not as strong or useful). EngiLeth has far superior AoE, with 30% extra damage from any AoE ability crit - which is also very good single target as it boosts C-Nade crits. EngiLeth relies slightly more on longer cooldowns, with one of its most powerful abilities, Explosive Probe, on a 30 second cooldown while Leth's Weakening Blast has only a 10 second cooldown, however EngiLeth compensates by being ever so slightly more energy efficient, with Explosive Probe costing 1 energy (assuming all Cluster Bombs are popped) and Weakening Blast costing 10.

 

While Leth can use Explosive Probe too, and can even get the talent that boosts its and C-nades damage by 15%, it doesn't have Cluster Bombs, Interrogation Probe (which isn't that useful but still good) or Experimental Explosives. Experimental Explosives gives EngiLeth much better aoe as Frag Grade, C-nade, and Orbital Strike all crit for more, Cluster Bombs do some fairly negligible damage but make Explosive Probe worth using, and Interrogation Probe is nice to use when your kiting or on the run. Lack of those three talents (although Int Probe is only really useful while kiting or on the run) puts Leth behind EngiLeth in everything except pure tank killing (where Leth has the advantage with Weakening Blast boosting armor penetrating damage, and doing slightly more damage to targets below 30%).

 

Tl;dr? No. Sorry for the very long post but if you can't be bothered reading it, then thats not my problem.

Edited March 8, 2012 by Migey

[Dasamukha]

I use scatter shot very regularly. Generally if I am just harassing a target I might wait a shot or two to apply scattershot. In a highly fluid situation I might opt for a snipe --> takedown combination that eliminates a low health player first.

 

If you intend to do more than interrupt or just get its attention, 20% debuff is 20%. Yes its less of boost against light armor, but its still a boost in damage. Marks is not a spread around your damage spec. You are generally (not always) plunking down to take someone out. If you intend to kill or severely wound your opponent, scattershot needs to be near the top of your list of shots.

[Zunayson]

I use (Top row, from left to right):

 

Rifle Shot, Snipe/crouch, Ambush, Leg shot, Entrench, Debilitate, Laze Target, Adrenaline Probe, Diversion, Relic, and Relic

 

I use (Bottom row, from left to right):

 

Takedown, Followthrough, Series of Shots, Cover Pulse, Rapid Fire, Flashbang, Target Aquired, Orbital Strike, Sprint, Vehicle.

[Zunayson]

@ Dasamukha (guy who made the really long post last page)

 

Sorry to say but alot of what you say in regards to Lethality is plain old wrong.

 

First, about what you said about c-nade.

 

It does not have a slow - the Slow is 30% (ie, almost useless, since any class which would be annoyed by a slow you can keep away anyway) and must be specced into, which is a waste of points in that tier unless you go into 31 Leth, which is inadviseable. You fail to mention that Corrosive Grenade is the single most powerful Sniper DoT - as it ignores armor and gets 30% more damage from crits with Experimental Explosives (which anyone with an EngiLeth spec should have instead of Razor Rounds) and also boosts Cull.

 

While EngiLeth is better then pure Leth is almost every instance, Weakening Blast is still more effective then you make it out to be - it boosts a large part of your damage by 30%; your two DoTs and the poison bonus part of Cull (which comes form hitting a DoTed target). This means that it gives a huge burst bonus.

 

Explosive Probe does not have a short DoT. Where the hell did that come from? It has Cluster Bombs if you branch into the hybrid EngiLeth spec (which i argue is the most superior out of all Sniper specs) but they are not a DoT - they are a debuff which does a small amount of damage when activated by Cull, SoS, Snipe, Ambush, one or two other weapon based spells and your auto attack.

 

Corrosive Dart tab targeting? Thats the worst idea i've ever heard. It's damage, while somewhat good, is still not worth the high energy cost unless you will be using it with Cull. Tab targeting it on a group is a TERRIBLE idea, and will do MUCH less damage then spamming Frag Nade on a group would (and you should have specced into 3 sec cooldown for it). Corrosive Dart is the weakest Sniper DoT, even Interrogation Probe is stronger, as its higher damage outweighs its mitigation by armor when compared to C-dart.

 

You say you can add Snipe into an attack rotation. WHAT? Any Leth or EngiLeth Sniper who uses Snipe really needs to get a firmer grasp of how to play the spec. Snipe is one of the worst Sniper spells - a cast time, high energy cost, moderate damage mitigated by armor. It's use is in MM where it has slightly higher damage and more important procs Followthrough (which makes up for Snipes inefficiency by being the single most efficient damage spell Snipers have). However as EngiLeth you do not have an over-abundance of energy (with Cull costing 30 energy) unless your crit is at 88% for energy regen (before you check, it isn't) you should NEVER waste energy on a Snipe. I do admit that Ambush and SoS are very useful however, being very high damage and rather efficient spells, and their cooldowns are rarely a problem with EngiLeth, as you have alot of other spells to use.

 

You say that Lethality is not as choosy about its targets. Thats utter bullsh*t, and one of the few advantages MM has over EngiLeth or Leth is that it can switch targets with ease. A Leth based spec has a ramp up time (not a very long one, but it does have it) as its most powerful ability, Cull, requires two DoTs up to use. As Leth you need to apply C-dart, C-nade if it isn't already on from AoE, then either Explosive Probe or Weakening Blast depending on spec, then Cull. Thats 3 GCDs of ramp-up. It's not too long, and i never find it very problematic, but its certainly longer then MMs max ramp up time of 1 GCD for Shatter Shot. MM doesn't need to ramp up anything - any spell it hits with will hit at its highest possible (with Shatter Shot up). As MM you can be unloading on one target and if he moves away, instantly move to another with Snipes, Followthroughs, Ambushes and SoS.

 

Apologies for the very long post, but i wished to correct some of the huger mistakes you made while talking about Lethality.

 

Note to all about EngiLeth v Leth. There is not a huge amount of difference - EngiLeth has Explosive Probe and Leth has Weakening Blast (And Explosive Probe too, but it's not as strong or useful). EngiLeth has far superior AoE, with 30% extra damage from any AoE ability crit - which is also very good single target as it boosts C-Nade crits. EngiLeth relies slightly more on longer cooldowns, with one of its most powerful abilities, Explosive Probe, on a 30 second cooldown while Leth's Weakening Blast has only a 10 second cooldown, however EngiLeth compensates by being ever so slightly more energy efficient, with Explosive Probe costing 1 energy (assuming all Cluster Bombs are popped) and Weakening Blast costing 10.

 

While Leth can use Explosive Probe too, and can even get the talent that boosts its and C-nades damage by 15%, it doesn't have Cluster Bombs, Interrogation Probe (which isn't that useful but still good) or Experimental Explosives. Experimental Explosives gives EngiLeth much better aoe as Frag Grade, C-nade, and Orbital Strike all crit for more, Cluster Bombs do some fairly negligible damage but make Explosive Probe worth using, and Interrogation Probe is nice to use when your kiting or on the run. Lack of those three talents (although Int Probe is only really useful while kiting or on the run) puts Leth behind EngiLeth in everything except pure tank killing (where Leth has the advantage with Weakening Blast boosting armor penetrating damage, and doing slightly more damage to targets below 30%).

 

Tl;dr? No. Sorry for the very long post but if you can't be bothered reading it, then thats not my problem.

 

Nah explosive probe has a 3 second elemental DoT now. Look at it. Update sometime. But I agree, it wasn't like that in beta.

[Tibbel]

Nah explosive probe has a 3 second elemental DoT now. Look at it. Update sometime. But I agree, it wasn't like that in beta.

 

Explosive Probe's DoT only applies to a standard or weak target (i.e. not another player).

 

It's always been like this.

[Dulwaithe]

Explosive Probe's DoT only applies to a standard or weak target (i.e. not another player).

 

It's always been like this.

 

This is correct, read the ability description.

 

Also, scatter shot is not 20% more damage (lol?). It's 20% armor and only worth applying against targets that you really, really need the burst (as if you just want damage, use anything else) or targets that will be alive for a long time. It only adds a couple hundred damage to your abilities, assuming you're not targeting a tank.

[PrimusValkor]

I've gone 30/8/3 MM and love it. It totally rips through people like tissue paper. Tanks take a little longer and healers take about the same amount of time if not longer than tanks.

 

My success rate for 1v1 is about 66%-80% and that's with a couple of skills on CD. About 90% or higher if everything is off CD. And I mean everything: skills, adrenals, health.

 

I'll kill the target no problem unless its a skilled player. In which case, it will take a bit longer and more button pushing.

 

My advice for playing a sniper:

 

1. learn the class

2. don't clutter your skill bar with skills that you won't use. You will fumble trying to decide what skill to use at the moment.

3. use entrench wisely but often. When traited it provides 20s of protection out of 25s of being vulnerable.

4. most importantly, use Orbital Strike ON YOUR LOCATION. That is extra DPS that you set and forget. This is what I use to win the majority of fights. When traited its on a shorter cooldown and when geared it gives 1 extra tick.

 

My advice for fighting the classes:

 

vs. Warrior: They will most likely choke and then throw you and then jump to you. Use entrench when you can. Get back into cover ASAP. Cast orbital strike on your spot. Stun. Got to town. Leg shot so they can't run from OS.

 

vs. Tanks: same as the warrior, only takes longer.

 

vs. Healer: Do not attack from range. You lose out on 2 interrupts (cover pulse and debilitate) when you fight at YOUR range. Get up to him and stay on him at all times. Interrupt appropriately. Same as tanks and warrior, except it takes longer than tanks and you have to use your skills to interrupt prodigiously.

 

vs. Stealthers: More than likely they will always get the jump on you with their knockdown opener. DO NOT USE YOUR CC BREAKER WHEN YOU ARE INITIALLY STUNNED. Because of the nerf, the opener is survivable and lasts only 1.5 seconds. Its the second incoming stun, 4 seconds long, that you use your CC breaker on. Stun them. Orbital strike on your location. Leg shot and go to town like the rest.

 

vs. Ranged: Because sniper is supposed to be the highest range DPS in the game. Its up to you to decide whether or not to go in for a melee fight or stay at range. My vote is to stay at range solely because just as LOS is killer for you, it is also killer for them as well. Using orbital strike won't help you here because they will just move out of the way. I would only cast OS if I want them to move in a certain direction, ie force them to fight with their back to a wall and in a corner.

 

The absolute most important thing is to cast Orbital Strike on your location when fighting in melee range because it is the extra DPS from this that will help you kill your target. When OS runs out, start using cover pulse to keep them from getting into melee range.

 

This is because your target now has to make one of three decisions:

 

1. Stay and fight while getting hit by Orbital Strike.

2. Wait outside the range of Orbital Strike until it dissipates while taking damage from you.

3. Run away.

 

Practice makes perfect. Happy hunting.

[SteffizleESQ]

I've gone 30/8/3 MM and love it. It totally rips through people like tissue paper. Tanks take a little longer and healers take about the same amount of time if not longer than tanks.

 

...

 

What is the distribution for your 30/8/3 build?

[Tibbel]

What is the distribution for your 30/8/3 build?

 

The most common 30/8/3 is just the 31/7/3 with the point from Rapid Fire put into 3/3 Explosive Engineering instead.

[Radared]

First off, as always I recommend a RAZER Nostromo and Naga mouse. I felt they gave me a huge advantage in World of Warcraft, and the advantage is just as large here. It also makes keybinding easier. Since you likely do not own one, I will not waste time showing my keybinds, but if you have spare cash, I would definitely look into it.

 

As far as personal specs, I go http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#400bcrrdRoRgZbIZh.1 In case the spec itself isn't self explainitory, I choose Marks because burst is king and you'll get the most bang for your buck with Ambush --> Series of Shots --> Followthrough, etc.

 

What to use and when:

Personally, I open with Shatter Shot. I use Laze Target for Snipe when it is up, if not I generally still open with a Snipe. I use an Ambush --> Followthrough if I get a crit. If explosive probe is up, I'll put that in between the Ambush and Followthrough for extra burst. If my Snipe did not crit, I will put a Series of Shot in between. The reason why is there is no point casting a 2.5 second Ambush if you can help it. Your crit rate should be plenty high enough once the gear comes where this will not be a problem.

 

When you have a squishy target, ALWAYS pop CD's. You might as well kill them fast. Personally, I recommend the Matrix Cube and Power Relics. More Power = More Damage.

 

As Marks, I use Entrench pretty much every time it is up and I know I will have great LoS on somebody for a good while. Entrench is your friend...use it every chance you get.

 

Finally, if there is a group of people...Orbital Strike and Frag Grenade are extremely powerful. Trust me, you can flatten a group and put a ton of pressure on the healers when done properly. I hope that this helps the OP and any aspiring Snipers out there.