New-ish Watchman 26 atm, few questions

[TristQueloon]

I had a few questions on playing watchman, im sure most of my "issues" will be resolved by gaining levels and thus new abilities.

 

1. Im pretty good at getting all my dots on target. However Ive noticed over and over again a strange situation. Usually I will open with Zealous Strike (saving leap for when im knockbacked), then OS, Leg Strike, Slash, Cauterize, followed up with some strikes and slashes. At this point almost everyone is half dead. Heres the problem. Once their half dead, it doesnt seem to matter how quick or often I get my dots back up, that last 50% of their HP goes down at like 1/4 the speed. Not sure whats going on, im guessing defensive cooldowns?

 

1.5: Once I got all my dots up, should I dump all my focus with slashes? Or just do free strikes so I have tons of focus to use once its time to reapply my dots?

 

2. Once im close to death, there is no saving myself. Rebuke, Saber Ward, Pacifiy, it only buys me like 5 seconds of life. Im guessing things get better after force camo?

 

3. What should I be stacking? I know Str. But whats priority next? End, Crit, Power?

 

4. I know warzones are not about medal farming anymore. But its still a good scale to base how well your doing. 90% of the time I get exactly 4 medals. Sometimes 5. Is this just because at under 30, my DPS still isnt great enough to get the higher dps medals?

 

5. MvP votes: I never get any. Ive multiple rounds where I was 1st or 2nd dps, high in heals (thanks to Zen), 1st in obj, and scored 3/5 goals. And dont get a single medal. On my guardian I always get tons cause people notice me guarding them. Is Sent just a thankless job?

 

Thanks for the info.

Edited March 10, 2012 by TristQueloon

[Chessack]

I wrote a really long answer to you and then realized that I can't tell if you are asking exclusively about PVP, or also about PVE. I have nothing to say about PVP because I never, ever do it, not even a little.

 

If you want advice about PVE, I can provide some. But I can't comment about PVP.

[NovaGame]

You are low on level and yes as you level up most of those issues will go away

On your 1st point ,the one that you missing is Merciless Slash,it fits perfect in your puzzle there.

Do not Slash just to dump focus ,when you will have Merc Slash you will need to make sure you have focus towards its cooldown ending.

Merc Slash might aswell reset Cauterize (66%) so you prolly need more focus there.

After 40 lvl you will Slash in a far more lesser extend.

 

About survivability,there is a whole new world when you get force camo, specially if you pemade a lot (great way to give your healer time to do a strong heal).

Remember also that Valorous Call (Zen pop on demand) can be used offensive and defensive at the same time, i.e you are really low on hp, you pop Guarded and Zen dots followed by a medpack if available.

Force Cam,Guarded by Force,Pacify,Awe,Valorous Call, + our beloved Saber Ward and Rebuke gives us great survivability and utility at the same time.

Just hotkey everything,time them right and be defensive when you need to.

 

As for stats ,surge up to 70% rest in power works fine for me,but with no combat logs we can't be 100% sure.

 

About medals and mvp votes ,do not read much into it, it doesn't matter,nor the damage charts ,thats for pugs and e-peen hunting.

Just play with your friends in a premade if you can,have fun on your voice com and rememer that winning gives 3200ish valor instead of 2500 (?) of a loss.

Thats all you need to know

Edited March 10, 2012 by NovaGame

[Chessack]

On your 1st point ,the one that you missing is Merciless Slash,it fits perfect in your puzzle there.

 

He can't get Merciless Slash until level 40... it's at the top of the tree and requires a minimum of 31 talent points to get.

 

Do not Slash just to dump focus

 

I agree with this 100%. Don't hoard focus but don't dump it for no good reason either.

 

Can't speak to the PVP stuff as I said.

[Psybin]

1. Yep, that's usually around the time your target goes omgwftbbq and pops something. Or when a healer/tank drops a heal/bubble/guard on them.

It's a good habit to learn the icons of the various defensive abilities different classes have. I.E. It's pointless wailing on someone with guarded by the force or the mara equivilent up.

 

1.5. Since you do not have merc yet then some of your focus can be dumped into slashes. But not too much. Ensure you have enough to pop cautarise and overload when they come back off CD. This sort of thing generally comes down to "feeling". And it will all change when you get merciless, so don't get too used to it

 

2. Rebuke should have been used when you start taking any direct damage at all.

Sabre ward if you start taking a pasting, you want to use it before the dps train comes in, not after. If you are almost dead then you left it too late.

Pacify is your get out of jail free card for 6s, but only versus knight/trooper types.

Guarded by the force once you get it is your true low life "oh sh*t" button.

If you rotate the above four abilities correctly you should be very tough to take down, especially with any kind of heals.

Camo is more situational and can be used in all sorts of ways. Bravely running away to a medpack pick up, or to allow a healer to save you. Or it can be used offensively to close gaps. Or keep you alive long enough to prevent a cap long enough for your team to come back.

Or refering back to question 1, if you get pacified or you see a big CD up on your target then going invisible to wait it out can be a winner.

 

3. You'll get Endurance "naturally", do not stack it or choose it over a dps stat.

Generally speaking the prevailing opinion is get around 25% crit and 70% crit damage. Between 95 and 98% hit chance (for normal attacks) then everything else into power.

 

4. In a warzone you should definately get:

75k damage, 10 kills, killing blow.

You should also get a solo kill. But is harder to guarantee.

In a decent warzone you can get:

25 kills, 300k damage, 1k defender points, 3k defender points, 75k healing.

Those last ones are much more dependant on your team. 25kills/300k damage/75k healing is hard when it feels like you are constantly fighting solo against at least 3+ imps due to your team sucking. And are gear dependant.

Defender points are about fighting near/on objectives. Whilst this is usually the best thing to do, sometimes to win games you cannot always do it.

 

5. Basically yes sent is quite a thankless job. You have to really shine to get votes. Basically totally dominate the dps/kills chart.

It's also rather random. Sometimes you can totally own the warzone and get none, or not do so well and get a load. People are strange sometimes! There's also the fact that if you are in the same warzone as a premade, they will usually vote for each other.

I find that once you get your name more known as a decent pvper then more votes come.

[EclatDeGivre]

My 2 cents =)

 

1) Ban slash from your rotation. Use it when you have OS, BladeStorm, Force Sweep (which does hit harder than slash), Stasis (perfect for your DoTs), Cripple throw (in case they are healers or can potentialy get healed), Master strike (unless they are moving a lot), etc. Slash is a good focus dump because it has no CD, but use it as last, last resort.

 

Then abt the half dead, yeah most probably defensive CDs and consumables. Abt PvE it should not be the case...

 

1.5) The point is to always have enough focus to OS/Cauterize. cf 1) For the importance of slash in your priority list.

 

2) Rebuke should come at the first dmg you get, Saber wards at 50~~, same for Pacify. Even with force camo, you probably should be using when many ppl focus you, not when you are 10%hp. The only ones worth using at very low life are GbtF, Awe, and of course consumables.

 

3)Tough question lots of debate. If you don't have Defensive forms, I'd say crit as you don't have zen enough to compensate for the 2% of life it gives. End is always nice but I don't think it is a good priority. I'd advice Power then crit then surge at your level. Power is more linear and will also help you nicely in PvE.

 

4) Medals don't show how good you are. They just show that you are "not that bad". Killing healers, taking/defending objectives, attracting ppl far from the objective, slowing ppl without killing them for objectives, protecting your healer will get you no medal. Then if you have a pocket healer that can both survive without you and heal you, you'll destroy the dps chart... but once again, it's not showing you are good.

 

5) Pure Dps in general is not good for MVPs. People tend to think in terms of charts which is a bad indicator. If you want MVPs, play the objectives and protect you healers. But yeah Sents are bad at MVPs, our best job is killing the healers which most of the time looks like trying to kill blindly the guy hinding at the back of his team.

[Mal-Sharran]

My 2 cents =)

 

1) Ban slash from your rotation. Use it when you have OS, BladeStorm, Force Sweep (which does hit harder than slash), Stasis (perfect for your DoTs), Cripple throw (in case they are healers or can potentialy get healed), Master strike (unless they are moving a lot), etc. Slash is a good focus dump because it has no CD, but use it as last, last resort.

 

Then abt the half dead, yeah most probably defensive CDs and consumables. Abt PvE it should not be the case...

 

1.5) The point is to always have enough focus to OS/Cauterize. cf 1) For the importance of slash in your priority list.

 

2) Rebuke should come at the first dmg you get, Saber wards at 50~~, same for Pacify. Even with force camo, you probably should be using when many ppl focus you, not when you are 10%hp. The only ones worth using at very low life are GbtF, Awe, and of course consumables.

 

3)Tough question lots of debate. If you don't have Defensive forms, I'd say crit as you don't have zen enough to compensate for the 2% of life it gives. End is always nice but I don't think it is a good priority. I'd advice Power then crit then surge at your level. Power is more linear and will also help you nicely in PvE.

 

4) Medals don't show how good you are. They just show that you are "not that bad". Killing healers, taking/defending objectives, attracting ppl far from the objective, slowing ppl without killing them for objectives, protecting your healer will get you no medal. Then if you have a pocket healer that can both survive without you and heal you, you'll destroy the dps chart... but once again, it's not showing you are good.

 

5) Pure Dps in general is not good for MVPs. People tend to think in terms of charts which is a bad indicator. If you want MVPs, play the objectives and protect you healers. But yeah Sents are bad at MVPs, our best job is killing the healers which most of the time looks like trying to kill blindly the guy hinding at the back of his team.

 

I won't come down on you too hard, because I used to think the exact same thing. But think about it logically. No matter what class you're fighting, how do YOU open up on an opponent? Do you hold back, swatting at them with mediocre abilities at the start of a fight, or do you do your best to nuke them? You nuke, of course. When I'm dead sure I'm about 1-2 seconds away from a fight, I pop both rebuke and saber ward, then nuke my opponent. That way, by the time my saber ward is down, my opponent is at 50% or less, and I'm barely scratched. This is a huge advantage and puts them on the defensive.

 

Am I saying never hold saber ward in reserve? Ehhh...maybe not NEVER, but everybody you fight is going to nuke you straight away, so you want it up to mitigate as much of their brutal, relic/adrenal boosted nuke as possible.

 

Also, Blade Storm costs 4 Focus and we have zero talents to boost it, this is never, ever to be used under any circumstance other than to bypass a defensive talent such as Dodge, or if you are being kited and you need the 10 meter range. Otherwise, ignore it. The bang to buck ratio is terrible as Watchman.

 

And on the topic of Slash, while you won't use it often, it does have a time and place. Considering Sweep costs 1 focus, it is in fact a better choice of Slash, but Slash is in the priority I'm about to list...

 

Zen - (obviously, only when you have a 3 stack of OS)

Merc Slash - (if within 2-3 seconds of Merc buff falling off, letting Merciless fall off is terrible)

Dispatch - (cheap, hits hard as a truck, ranged, just hard to beat)

Cauterize - Our bread and butter

Merc Slash - (both for its high damage and chance to reset Cauterize, ALWAYS Cauterize before Merc Slash)

OS - Our other bread and butter

Zealous - (if 5 or less focus, not 6, because you could proc 1 focus from Burning Focus at any time, potentially wasting 1 focus)

SLASH - (If/when Merc, Caut and OS are on CD and you happen to be at or above 7 Focus, do not hesitate to pop Slash, I admit this condition is rare)

Master Strike - Whenever you can, between more important cds, it's a great way to deal good damage while waiting for Caut/OS/Merc to come off CD.

Edited March 14, 2012 by Mal-Sharran

[EclatDeGivre]

Well about slash being superior to blade storm I must slightly disagree. The fact that watchman has no talent to enhance BS doesn't change the fact that it is better. The DPS is higher obviously, but the DPS/Focus is not much different from Slash except for the fact that there is no parry nor dodge, which in the end, is better. On top of that your accuracy can be lowered for any reason (pacify, smoke bomb, dust storm are the first that come to my mind but i'm quite sure there are others), BS will bypass it. And because the overall loss in dps/focus is neglectable, well, BS comes first.

 

For Rebuke and Saber ward, it's a matter of preference. I actually prefer having defensive CDs at the right time to use them fully. I do understand your point, but for 75% of the class you will be fighting (all except Sith warrior) the moment where they wil stop staying at 80-100% energy to empty their resource bar to kill you is not in the early fight. Same against Mara, the moment they will pop zen is not in the first 5s of the fight. On top of that I don't like feeling that I am wasting defensive CDs. The 2 do not stack well, and I like thinking in terms of "from the moment i hit the button how much did it absorb". With my gunslinger I often focus sents cuz I know they hit hard and are squishy. When I see defensive ward, I'm just thinking "Well I'll kill someone else for the next 12s". If you are selfish and think in terms of topping the dps chart, then it will have the effect you expected. If you think as a team and have healers they will try to heal you when you will be low on health, and it is at this very moment that you must not melt under the sun.

 

On top of that early fight is Force and Tech centered which ignore def. How can you waste more your melee & ranged 50% defense rate of saber ward come on !

 

Then about your priority list you may have missed the part where he was 26...

[Psybin]

Saber Ward

Instant

Cooldown: 180s

Raises a lightsaber ward, increasing melee and ranged defense by 50% and reducing the damage taken from Force and tech attacks by 25%. Lasts 12 seconds.

 

As I said before, you want to use it just as you think you are going to take a pasting. Generally when you have more than one person hitting you. Popping at some hp level isn't great, popping on the way in isn't great. It's generally about awareness...

[GaryCartel]

I had a few questions on playing watchman, im sure most of my "issues" will be resolved by gaining levels and thus new abilities.

 

1. Im pretty good at getting all my dots on target. However Ive noticed over and over again a strange situation. Usually I will open with Zealous Strike (saving leap for when im knockbacked), then OS, Leg Strike, Slash, Cauterize, followed up with some strikes and slashes. At this point almost everyone is half dead. Heres the problem. Once their half dead, it doesnt seem to matter how quick or often I get my dots back up, that last 50% of their HP goes down at like 1/4 the speed. Not sure whats going on, im guessing defensive cooldowns?

 

1.5: Once I got all my dots up, should I dump all my focus with slashes? Or just do free strikes so I have tons of focus to use once its time to reapply my dots?

 

2. Once im close to death, there is no saving myself. Rebuke, Saber Ward, Pacifiy, it only buys me like 5 seconds of life. Im guessing things get better after force camo?

 

3. What should I be stacking? I know Str. But whats priority next? End, Crit, Power?

 

4. I know warzones are not about medal farming anymore. But its still a good scale to base how well your doing. 90% of the time I get exactly 4 medals. Sometimes 5. Is this just because at under 30, my DPS still isnt great enough to get the higher dps medals?

 

5. MvP votes: I never get any. Ive multiple rounds where I was 1st or 2nd dps, high in heals (thanks to Zen), 1st in obj, and scored 3/5 goals. And dont get a single medal. On my guardian I always get tons cause people notice me guarding them. Is Sent just a thankless job?

 

Thanks for the info.

 

After applying my dots I will user force stasis(forget what level you get this at) and just let my dots tick. This helps you build your focus back up again and start the dot routine again. Also, since you are throwing leg strike on them. Use master strike. It's one of those abilities that easily gets forgotten. Even if your target starts walking away. You will be surprised how far away he gets before it doesn't do damage to him any more. I use this ability to fill the gap between OS cooldown. Works wonders.

 

To be honest tho, I wouldn't think to much about this stuff until max level. There are so many abilities that you don't have the put the puzzle together. For example you don't get dispatch until higher. Which I use every fight. Merciless slash is one of the biggest things you are missing. As well as guarded by the force and force camo.

 

It's not going to come together properly until you get all these abilities. Same reason why I didn't keybind most of my abilities while leveling. I was unsure which abilities I would use the most were.

[Mal-Sharran]

Well about slash being superior to blade storm I must slightly disagree. The fact that watchman has no talent to enhance BS doesn't change the fact that it is better. The DPS is higher obviously, but the DPS/Focus is not much different from Slash except for the fact that there is no parry nor dodge, which in the end, is better. On top of that your accuracy can be lowered for any reason (pacify, smoke bomb, dust storm are the first that come to my mind but i'm quite sure there are others), BS will bypass it. And because the overall loss in dps/focus is neglectable, well, BS comes first.

 

For Rebuke and Saber ward, it's a matter of preference. I actually prefer having defensive CDs at the right time to use them fully. I do understand your point, but for 75% of the class you will be fighting (all except Sith warrior) the moment where they wil stop staying at 80-100% energy to empty their resource bar to kill you is not in the early fight. Same against Mara, the moment they will pop zen is not in the first 5s of the fight. On top of that I don't like feeling that I am wasting defensive CDs. The 2 do not stack well, and I like thinking in terms of "from the moment i hit the button how much did it absorb". With my gunslinger I often focus sents cuz I know they hit hard and are squishy. When I see defensive ward, I'm just thinking "Well I'll kill someone else for the next 12s". If you are selfish and think in terms of topping the dps chart, then it will have the effect you expected. If you think as a team and have healers they will try to heal you when you will be low on health, and it is at this very moment that you must not melt under the sun.

 

On top of that early fight is Force and Tech centered which ignore def. How can you waste more your melee & ranged 50% defense rate of saber ward come on !

 

Then about your priority list you may have missed the part where he was 26...

 

As somebody else pointed out, Saber Ward reduces Force/Tech damage by 25%, you stack that with Rebuke and you're taking 45% less damage from all sources for 12 seconds, and half the **** they throw at you won't even land due to the 50% defense boost.

 

If I'm coming from a previous fight, and I have some spare focus and centering already built, you better believe I'll be popping Zen in the first 5 seconds. OS, Leap, Cauterize (Zealous or Merc, depending on how much focus I have), and bam, that's 3 stacks of OS. ZEN! That's all 5 seconds or less. Every single attack that applies OS is affected by defense, I've tried putting up 3 stacks of OS on a Mara with Saber Ward popped and I can't land a single hit. Out of 3 charges of OS, I used 1 before it fell off and I had to reuse OS.

 

You don't hold Rebuke and Saber Ward in reserve, they aren't 'OH ****' buttons, they're very decent mitigation buttons. Your OH **** buttons are Guarded by the Force and talented Force Camo. THOSE two abilities, on a MUCH, MUCH shorter cd, are what you pop in 'oh ****' moments, giving your healer a chance to catch up by completely stopping all incoming damage. You use Rebuke and Saber Ward to blunt the incoming damage, not stop it cold.

Edited March 14, 2012 by Mal-Sharran

[EclatDeGivre]

Well I still feel saber wards is slightly wasted this way.

 

Thank you for reminding me for the 25% on force and tech, but if you read well i was talking about the 50% on ranged and melee that is still wasted. Indeed during 12s you will feel immortal 50% def melee/ranged 20% mitigation (Ranged/melee) 45% mitigation (force/tech). But everything that will be parried/deflected whatever, will not be mitigated and thus diminish the total dmg "absorbed" by rebuke.

 

I never said saber wards was an emergency button, I said you should use it at 50% life or slithtly more/less. Because at this point, your target will probably not flee or change target, and this is the moment in the fight ranged melee attacks are more numerous. It is also the life span when you'll get healed. The point is only to use it knowing that you will survive long enough for the 12s and avoid what i'd say "bad stacking" tipycally 50% def and 20% mitigation. If your average survival time in fight is 12s then yeah, pop saber wards immediatly. I just tend to survive longer.

 

@Psybin : Agreed completely for when you're gonna get hit hard. But a life indicator is a good compromise between playing optimally and noobing. Sents have lots and lots of things to be aware of. And honestly I think overall (or maybe only me ^^') sents are way to complicated to be played at their best by most people. I think starting using it at 50% is a good way to learn to play Sents. It's just my opinion.

 

I do understand and respect your choices men, just say that I don't care about having a 12s godmode and then miss my saber ward when the fight lasts more than 12s. As much as possible I try to separate them to not meet the situation where I use a defensive CD for mitigation (Rebuke) and have an attack targeting me (melee or ranged) parried by an other effect (saber ward). I like my rebuke to affect all incomming attacks as much as possible. It's just a playstyle that I will not dare to qualify as optimal or I'll get trolled again...

Edited March 15, 2012 by EclatDeGivre

[Psybin]

I also prefer to rotate cooldowns for the most effect. Tho will pop more than one in extreme situations.

Also don't forget pacify for warriors/Bounty hunters. It's quite amusing sometimes... People are usually quite aware that when a bubble thing pops up around you then getting you down will be hard. So they tend to go defensive, CC you etc. But they generally aren't nearly so aware of you debuffing them...