Any point to going Pyrotech if I'm a Mercenary?

[AngrySoviet]

I've heard a lot of people praise Pyrotech for PVP, but they were mainly talking about Powertechs. It seems to fit the PT playstyle more, since it relies on instant spells. So can Merc go well with the shared tree?

[The_Beastwood]

People say it works but I doubt it can compare to the Powertech one.

 

I'd go for the arsenal tree to take advantage of that 15% crit+ on tracer missle.

[Tickdoff-Tank]

Pyro-merc is a great spec. I was a pyro for a long time, only recently switched to arsenal. Only reason I switched was for the operations, I am the only BH in the guild that is geared up for HM ops and the TM debuff is just too good for the whole team.

 

But, the pyro spec is pure win in PvP and even PvE, you hit hard, are mobile, and it is just plain FUN. I felt like I did as much, if not more, damage than an arsenal spec, and I was much harder to kill. The pyro spec is not as easily shut down by interrupts as arsenal is, and if the RNG even half-way decent to you you can pump out some serious crits with rail shot.

 

Again, the only real advantage to arsenal is the debuff from TM, but for operation teams that debuff is (IMO) too good to pass up.

[Macroecon]

So here's my perspective as a Valor 77 Merc Pyro. I do fine with the build. More than fine actually. But the Merc Pyro tree is a PvE oriented tree. Both unique abilities you get (Incendiary Missile and Thermal Det) are best used against mobs. That should tell you right away this tree is PvE oriented.

 

On the PvP side, the Merc Pyro is a more mobile platform than the Merc Arsenal - but you can not exploit it as easily as with a PT Pyro. For the simple reason that you have virtually no advantage from engaging your target at short range, unlike the PT. Thus the advantage gained from adjusting your engagement range is removed.

 

As you would expect, the Merc Pyro is also more prone to overheating issues than the Merc Arsenal. And its burst ability is extremely low. The reliance on a crit hit RS to provide a burst ability is ill advised. I've used a 11/30 hybrid and even with that stunted Arsenal tree, the TM will do more damage than the RS vs a target on burn. More base damage AND higher crits. Plus of course the TM has no CD. End of discussion about burst.

 

The reason some people dislike the Merc Arsenal for PvP is a bit myopic IMO. And it is that, if played correctly, you rarely deal the killing blow. And some players need that psychological aspect. Players that like to go on solo hunting sprees with their toon tend to do poorly with the Merc Arsenal, because everyone is now trained to break LOS once the TMs start flying. Instead the role of the Merc Arsenal is as the team debuffer - just as in an ops. You need to alter your targeting habits to use your TMs to help your teammates. If at the wz end screen, the Merc Arsenal comes within 20% of the top damage dealer, then in fact the Merc Arsenal was the top TEAM damage dealer - because about 5% of every other person's damage output was in fact attributable to the Merc Arsenal's debuffing. But people aren't able to look through that, the way they look through a healer's damage output to his healing stats.

 

Bottom line - there are more powerful BH choices than the Merc Pyro when it comes to PvP. I've seen a lot of people roll Merc Pyros for PvP purposes, but almost invariably they wind up redoing their skill tree to include TM. That's just the reality of the situation.

[KKaae]

Pyro is great in pvp.

 

I am Valor Rank 58½ been Pyro since level 45.

 

Heat management is a *****, but it is rare that people have as much damage as I do.

I reach the 300k mark every game.

 

Dots are crap though, curable, no longer interrupts capping, and no burst after the first initial Thermal Detonator, Railshot, Unload, Railshot - but that normally takes a non-tank down to 30-40%.

 

Incendiary Missile is expensive on the heat, but ticks for quite a lot.

 

The mobility is the real reason to spec pyro, I only ever die to arsenal (tm.tm.tm.tm.tm) when caught out in the open, or if they catch me in a fight with someone else.

 

Pyro, I love it

[Defang]

I'm gonna have to disagree with the above poster about Tracer Missile being superior in PvP.

 

I'm rank 65 right now with almost full battlemaster and I do way more damage in warzones as full Pyrotech. While tracer missile does have the big hits and its buffs and debuffs it doesn't have the one thing warzones call for and thats the ability to be mobile while dealing damage.

 

As far as burst is concerned Pyrotech has way more burst than Arsenal. Sure you get some big hits with your Tracer x3 > Heatseeker > Railshot combo, but you can do the same thing with Pyrotech and your Fusion Missile becomes a nice damage cooldown with Thermal Sensor Override.

 

Pyrotech also has dots that do more damage when targets are below 30% making it effectively an execute. With constant railshots being thrown out you can really rack up the damage quickly and dots also deal a significant amount of damage.

 

As Pyrotech you have to remember that your damage is increased by 9% on burning targets so you need to make sure they are burning with incendiary missile before trying to burst them.

 

You can line up a Thermal Detonator start casting Power Shot and use Rail Shot as that finishes to deal 30-60% of someones health.

 

At the end of the day though I feel that only ranked warzones will really show which spec is superior. My feeling is that Arsenal Mercs are going to be hard pressed to not be chain interrupted when Rated becomes available simply because everyone knows how much damage a turreting Arsenal Merc can do.

 

On a side note Pyrotech isn't penalized by using Alacrity like Arsenal making it a viable stat.

 

Hope this helps you and causes you not to make the fallacy of going tracer missile spam.

[Macroecon]

I'm rank 65 right now with almost full battlemaster and I do way more damage in warzones as full Pyrotech. While tracer missile does have the big hits and its buffs and debuffs it doesn't have the one thing warzones call for and thats the ability to be mobile while dealing damage.

 

No disrespect but that's exactly the myopic mentality I was referring to. WZ doesn't call for being mobile while doing damage. Getting the final killing blow requires being mobile while dealing damage. To chase down an enemy at low health who is running. The whole point in WZ is that chasing an enemy away from a door/turret is at times as effective as killing him. And TM does that. Look, I like delivering the killing blow as much as the next guy. And I've scored over 660K with a 31 pt Pyro. And I will stick with the build for my own set of myopic reasons until rated WZs start. But once rated WZs start, this build is effectively dead for PvP purposes.

 

I will give you one example why. Once rated WZs start, you are going to face competent enemies, and most commonly sage/sorcs. A competent sage/sorc will own a Merc Pyro. And those will be THE most common opponent you will face. IM+RS+TD+Unload+RS (if you get it) will NOT take a competent sage/sorc down to 30-40% of health. You will be lucky if he is below 70% health - and you've shot your wad. Game over - head to to the respawn area. Because from here on out, the Sage/Sorc heals faster than you damage. And he will have time available to dps YOU - for which you have no reply since he'll be using attacks that avoid all of your heavy armor. You know what will take that Sage/Sorc down below 50% health though? 5 TMs. Now that stabbies are nerfed, the ONLY thing a competent sage/sorc needs to be alert about is chain of TMs. Which is why sage/sorcs avoid a BH that is TM capable. TM helps a Merc's survivability far more than mobility does.

[Otaking_SW]

No disrespect but that's exactly the myopic mentality I was referring to. WZ doesn't call for being mobile while doing damage. Getting the final killing blow requires being mobile while dealing damage. To chase down an enemy at low health who is running. The whole point in WZ is that chasing an enemy away from a door/turret is at times as effective as killing him. And TM does that. Look, I like delivering the killing blow as much as the next guy. And I've scored over 660K with a 31 pt Pyro. And I will stick with the build for my own set of myopic reasons until rated WZs start. But once rated WZs start, this build is effectively dead for PvP purposes.

 

I will give you one example why. Once rated WZs start, you are going to face competent enemies, and most commonly sage/sorcs. A competent sage/sorc will own a Merc Pyro. And those will be THE most common opponent you will face. IM+RS+TD+Unload+RS (if you get it) will NOT take a competent sage/sorc down to 30-40% of health. You will be lucky if he is below 70% health - and you've shot your wad. Game over - head to to the respawn area. Because from here on out, the Sage/Sorc heals faster than you damage. And he will have time available to dps YOU - for which you have no reply since he'll be using attacks that avoid all of your heavy armor. You know what will take that Sage/Sorc down below 50% health though? 5 TMs. Now that stabbies are nerfed, the ONLY thing a competent sage/sorc needs to be alert about is chain of TMs. Which is why sage/sorcs avoid a BH that is TM capable. TM helps a Merc's survivability far more than mobility does.

 

I was considering rolling a Merc Pyro but your post makes a bleak and depressing amount of sense. What's more effective for turreting though arsenal Merc or Sniper? I'm guessing the TM AP is why you can kill Sages and the Sniper might be less effective?

 

I'm desperate to play a ranged class that's not a Sorc/Sage, help! lol

[KKaae]

Powertech is semi ranged, and if you notice, every time you see a "merc" that is impossible to kill, double check, cause its prolly a powertech.

 

and their pyro tree out damages our one.

Edited March 12, 2012 by KKaae

[prochuvi]

I was considering rolling a Merc Pyro but your post makes a bleak and depressing amount of sense. What's more effective for turreting though arsenal Merc or Sniper? I'm guessing the TM AP is why you can kill Sages and the Sniper might be less effective?

 

I'm desperate to play a ranged class that's not a Sorc/Sage, help! lol

 

i have one 50 comando,vanguard and sniper. so i can tell you that if u want one ranged char choose the sniper.

the sniper have the best dps of the game (betwen rangeds specs) and you dont need g to pvp with 2 pve set pieces bonus as the comando,you are inmune to interrupt,charge and more.

you could think that it is squishy but after lvl up to 50 i can tell you that it is better than comando because on markmanship spec you have 30 % damage raduction so the base 24 % of mitgation goes to 54 % where with the comando as gunnery you have 40 %.

and shield probe.......what can i say more than it is the best skill of this game so far,you have 30-50% uptime on that skill and that is inmune to all cc.

and if you want mobile dps and yellow damage you can go lethality spec hybrid with enginering.

so on pve and pvp the sniper win hands down.

now betwen pyro and gunnery i can tell you that it is lies who tel you that pyro is mobile.

on gunnery you are spaming grav round and on pyr you are spaming charged bolts,so it is the same but on pyro you have 10 % less mitigation,much MUCH MUCH more problem with ammo and less burst dps,if u are pyro as vanguard you could think it but comando pyro is useless on pve and pvp,does less dps than gunnery by big margen(pyro is around 300k on pvp and 1350 dps on pve where the gunnery is 500-600k on pvp and 1550 dps on pve)

this is my opinion and i have seen some theorycrafting backing this

[IronFeliks]

I absolutely love playing a Pyro Merc, but you just have to know how to play them.

 

#1 you need to have your combustible cylinder on and use it as much as possible. When it procs, its 1k dmg over 6 seconds on top of normal weapon dmg, and if spec'd properly hits every 3rd or 4th cast.

 

#2 When fighting against a caster you need to get right up on them. I know as a range DPS, it seems like the opposite of how you want to play, but running around them and through them breaks their LOS and they end up only casting 50% of what they want when they want, while you can constantly cast your instants (especially rocket punch) and CGC. Add in a properly timed electro dart and your insane 1v1. I've crushed every arsenal merc ive gone against using this tactic.

 

#3 Only use your instant cast ability for your big heal. If you time it correctly with your shield,

HoT, 0 heat ability, and follow it with a pvp medpack, you add 50% health to yourself if maybe 2 seconds.

 

#4 For the love of God, Mod your armor for Crit and Surge. There is absolutely nothing better(in game) than IMing someone then criting your railshot for 3k then criting your thermal detonator for the same. Not to mentioning the crits that come off your AoE. In VS and CW, throwing that on 4-6 people and watching it crit every other tick is remarkable.

 

All this is moot if someone with 2 glowsticks jumps on you. The only thing that has ever worked for me against a Mara/Sent is specing arsenal. Instant casting my first TM, then norma casting my second, stun, punch, knock back, TM, Heatseeker missles. That usually does it.

[Paerin]

I absolutely love playing a Pyro Merc, but you just have to know how to play them.

 

#1 you need to have your combustible cylinder on and use it as much as possible. When it procs, its 1k dmg over 6 seconds on top of normal weapon dmg, and if spec'd properly hits every 3rd or 4th cast.

 

#2 When fighting against a caster you need to get right up on them. I know as a range DPS, it seems like the opposite of how you want to play, but running around them and through them breaks their LOS and they end up only casting 50% of what they want when they want, while you can constantly cast your instants (especially rocket punch) and CGC. Add in a properly timed electro dart and your insane 1v1. I've crushed every arsenal merc ive gone against using this tactic.

 

#3 Only use your instant cast ability for your big heal. If you time it correctly with your shield,

HoT, 0 heat ability, and follow it with a pvp medpack, you add 50% health to yourself if maybe 2 seconds.

 

#4 For the love of God, Mod your armor for Crit and Surge. There is absolutely nothing better(in game) than IMing someone then criting your railshot for 3k then criting your thermal detonator for the same. Not to mentioning the crits that come off your AoE. In VS and CW, throwing that on 4-6 people and watching it crit every other tick is remarkable.

 

All this is moot if someone with 2 glowsticks jumps on you. The only thing that has ever worked for me against a Mara/Sent is specing arsenal. Instant casting my first TM, then norma casting my second, stun, punch, knock back, TM, Heatseeker missles. That usually does it.

 

#1 Cleanse says "Hi". As an Arsenal Mercenary I laugh when I get attacked by a Pyro Mercenary. Granted that 99% of the people who PVP in this game don't even have cleanse on a hotkey - the fact remains that it will remove 2 Tech or Physical effects - which all of your DoT's are.

 

#2 If you get up in my face it's a toss up as to who wins. Personally I am probably 50/50 when someone does this to me. However, if I know its a fight that will probably kill me it's easy enough to knock back and escape. Half of PVP is knowing which fights you can't win and continuing to help the team.

 

#3 This might work sometimes. IMHO your instant cast should be saved for an offensive ability. It's a waste of a global to heal yourself when 1 or 2 attacks from the other player is going to remove that health again. In certain situations it might be best to try and heal, but usually not in the heat of the battle.

 

#4 Crit/Surge is good advice. The AOE thing is why you end up with more damage overall according to the meter in the Warzones. The Arsenal merc has straight up better burst than a Pyro - it's just more easily countered by well timed interrupts.

 

The reality is that you can more than likely be successful with any spec in this game if you are not terrible. Most people aren't that good, don't think critically, panic when targeted, don't know how to cleanse, don't know how to LOS, don't know how to interrupt, don't use stims, don't use medpacks... the list can go on and on.

[IronFeliks]

#1 Cleanse says "Hi". As an Arsenal Mercenary I laugh when I get attacked by a Pyro Mercenary. Granted that 99% of the people who PVP in this game don't even have cleanse on a hotkey - the fact remains that it will remove 2 Tech or Physical effects - which all of your DoT's are.

 

#2 If you get up in my face it's a toss up as to who wins. Personally I am probably 50/50 when someone does this to me. However, if I know its a fight that will probably kill me it's easy enough to knock back and escape. Half of PVP is knowing which fights you can't win and continuing to help the team.

 

#3 This might work sometimes. IMHO your instant cast should be saved for an offensive ability. It's a waste of a global to heal yourself when 1 or 2 attacks from the other player is going to remove that health again. In certain situations it might be best to try and heal, but usually not in the heat of the battle.

 

#4 Crit/Surge is good advice. The AOE thing is why you end up with more damage overall according to the meter in the Warzones. The Arsenal merc has straight up better burst than a Pyro - it's just more easily countered by well timed interrupts.

 

The reality is that you can more than likely be successful with any spec in this game if you are not terrible. Most people aren't that good, don't think critically, panic when targeted, don't know how to cleanse, don't know how to LOS, don't know how to interrupt, don't use stims, don't use medpacks... the list can go on and on.

 

The more time you spend dispelling my DoTs is less time you spend casting offensive spells. I can spam my dots and CGC works just as well, I can cast Rail shot when my CGC procs, and once you're below 30% health my CGC ticks for almost 1300(without crits) over 6 seconds, with railshot refreshing the timer on it.

 

As far as jet boosting and escaping, that works moderately better on an arsenal than it does on a Merc, and my CGC snares you as well. Chance are, most people hit determination to get out of that snare, and thats when my stun comes in extremely well. That's not to say that I cant be defeated, just that having to stand still to cast when I can easily beat your LoS, DPSing the whole time makes it extremely hard for someone as stationary as an arsenal merc to kill me, especially when I can knockback and LoS you and cast an instant heal, the fast heal and a medpack to pretty much negate everything youve just done, especially since youve already used your instant cast.

 

When this is done properly, a really good arsenal merc and I fighting can result in a Samurai death but, like Sorcs, the majority of arsenal mercs are just turretheads and are rarely anything to worry about.

[Yazule]

the TM debuff is just too good for the whole team.

 

 

^^this

[hugebaddie]

No disrespect but that's exactly the myopic mentality I was referring to. WZ doesn't call for being mobile while doing damage. Getting the final killing blow requires being mobile while dealing damage. To chase down an enemy at low health who is running. The whole point in WZ is that chasing an enemy away from a door/turret is at times as effective as killing him. And TM does that. Look, I like delivering the killing blow as much as the next guy. And I've scored over 660K with a 31 pt Pyro. And I will stick with the build for my own set of myopic reasons until rated WZs start. But once rated WZs start, this build is effectively dead for PvP purposes.

 

I will give you one example why. Once rated WZs start, you are going to face competent enemies, and most commonly sage/sorcs. A competent sage/sorc will own a Merc Pyro. And those will be THE most common opponent you will face. IM+RS+TD+Unload+RS (if you get it) will NOT take a competent sage/sorc down to 30-40% of health. You will be lucky if he is below 70% health - and you've shot your wad. Game over - head to to the respawn area. Because from here on out, the Sage/Sorc heals faster than you damage. And he will have time available to dps YOU - for which you have no reply since he'll be using attacks that avoid all of your heavy armor. You know what will take that Sage/Sorc down below 50% health though? 5 TMs. Now that stabbies are nerfed, the ONLY thing a competent sage/sorc needs to be alert about is chain of TMs. Which is why sage/sorcs avoid a BH that is TM capable. TM helps a Merc's survivability far more than mobility does.

 

You guys should listen to this guy. I also have a fairly high lvl merc (valor 66) and have tried all manner of specs for warzones and pyro really is inferior on a mercenary in my opinion (powertech different story) . Wait till you get in one of those long drawn out voidstars, with several BMs per side and a couple guarded healers. The pyro merc will overheat in 2mins or so of solid attacking and be pretty much useless. Where as the arsenal merc is getting 8 heat back for every missile and unload crit, which is happening quite a bit if they have the 2 pve pieces for the +15% tracer crit buff. Also the arsenal merc is debuffing the target everyone else is focusing so that guard is not so scary to take down that healer anymore.

[Yazule]

You guys should listen to this guy. I also have a fairly high lvl merc (valor 66) and have tried all manner of specs for warzones and pyro really is inferior on a mercenary in my opinion (powertech different story) . Wait till you get in one of those long drawn out voidstars, with several BMs per side and a couple guarded healers. The pyro merc will overheat in 2mins or so of solid attacking and be pretty much useless. Where as the arsenal merc is getting 8 heat back for every missile and unload crit, which is happening quite a bit if they have the 2 pve pieces for the +15% tracer crit buff. Also the arsenal merc is debuffing the target everyone else is focusing so that guard is not so scary to take down that healer anymore.

 

the force is strong with this one

 

pyro looks like a LOT of fun in pvp , and PT pyro can keep up with me in raid, but merc pyro's sit out of raid, there is a reason for this.

 

1v1 pyro might be better though? *shrug* i pvp with a group (pug or pre-made) so that is rather inconsequential imo

[Macroecon]

The more time you spend dispelling my DoTs is less time you spend casting offensive spells. I can spam my dots and CGC works just as well, I can cast Rail shot when my CGC procs, and once you're below 30% health my CGC ticks for almost 1300(without crits) over 6 seconds, with railshot refreshing the timer on it.

 

Actually you can't spam your DoT. Here's the problem - IM costs 25% of your heat while Cleanse only costs him 15% of his heat. Thus trying to keep up with his Cleanse will leave you overheated while he spams TM till the cows go home.

 

And fighting an Arsenal is your BEST case scenario. Just look at the numbers against a sage/sorc which is your most COMMON scenario. 25% of your heat to launch IM vs. 6% of his force to cleanse/restore. Any competent sage/sorc will laugh at a Merc Pyro since a Merc Pyro's forte is DoT, but against a sage/sorc a Merc Pyro attempting to DoT him is actually HELPING the sage/sorc because it just accelerates the time frame in which the pyro is shut down by overheating.

 

I'll say it again - Merc Pyro is a PvE build. Both your unique abilities are PvE oriented. IM because mobs don't cleanse, and TD because the stun benefit only works against mobs. The sad part is that a sage/sorc is still better than a Merc Pyro in PvE. But BH needs the nerf. Right, BW?

[Azrienov]

I run merc pyro. I do 340k on a full drawn out hutt ball. I'm not even in BMs. Play what you want. Not what people with no clue tell you to.

[Macroecon]

I run merc pyro. I do 340k on a full drawn out hutt ball. I'm not even in BMs. Play what you want. Not what people with no clue tell you to.

 

And I've done 500K in a Huttie match with a 31pt Merc Pyro. But I'm telling you that if you think a nice looking number now means your toon is PvP viable once ranked WZ starts, then you are badly mistaken. Actually that might be a little harsh. If you are happy winning 50% of the time, I'm sure there will be groups that will invite you. And yes, you can still have a fun time playing want you want to play. But from a competitive standpoint, it's not a viable PvP build. Successful endgame PvP groups will consist of 7 sorcs with one arsenal team debuffer. Add a tank if you are queueing for Huttball.

 

BW has stated that they don't want everyone to feel as if they must pick Biochem in order to be successful in endgame PvP. Yet they cause the exact same "must have" build strategies with class balance. With even worse consequences since you can't simply redo your class/advanced class like you can with crew skills.

[TheronFett]

If you're Merc, stick with Arsenal. Here's a handy how-to video:

 

 

[Yazule]

If you're Merc, stick with Arsenal. Here's a handy how-to video:

 

 

 

i love the nice cut screens before overheating after 3 or 4 TM's... this could possibly be one of the worst edited vids yet, kudo's

[Defang]

Actually you can't spam your DoT. Here's the problem - IM costs 25% of your heat while Cleanse only costs him 15% of his heat. Thus trying to keep up with his Cleanse will leave you overheated while he spams TM till the cows go home.

 

And fighting an Arsenal is your BEST case scenario. Just look at the numbers against a sage/sorc which is your most COMMON scenario. 25% of your heat to launch IM vs. 6% of his force to cleanse/restore. Any competent sage/sorc will laugh at a Merc Pyro since a Merc Pyro's forte is DoT, but against a sage/sorc a Merc Pyro attempting to DoT him is actually HELPING the sage/sorc because it just accelerates the time frame in which the pyro is shut down by overheating.

 

I'll say it again - Merc Pyro is a PvE build. Both your unique abilities are PvE oriented. IM because mobs don't cleanse, and TD because the stun benefit only works against mobs. The sad part is that a sage/sorc is still better than a Merc Pyro in PvE. But BH needs the nerf. Right, BW?

 

Your forgetting the one thing sorcs and sages both have which is interrupts. Sure you can juke one but then they also have stun. As far as casts go Power Shot does even more damage than Tracer Missile and the only thing that makes it better to cast for Arsenal are the talents that directly affect it.

 

Sorcs can't cleanse our Pyro dots they are considered tech effects. Cleanse from operatives and other mercs can be an issue though. Thermal Detonator is used for the damage it does, which is quite significant, not the stun against weak mobs as you suggest.

 

Merc Pyro is not a PvE build, I'm not really sure how you came to this conclusion. There are no encounters where it is better to have the mobile damage that Pyrotech offers rather than the turreting capabilities that Arsenal provides.

 

Arsenal is the frail arcane mage in warzones with almost all their damage being based off one single attack. Without combat logs I can't truly comment on how Sorcs and Mercs compare in PvE.

 

I think you are either trolling or misguided when you say that Arsenal is the superior spec for warzones because of the Tracer Missile debuff that other classes can easily provide. I know that it does stack right now with other debuffs of the same type, however we know for certain that they are going to fix that. Therefore I have to conclude that without the stacking tracer missile debuff there is no reason going Arsenal in Rated Warzones unless you hate yourself and don't mind fake casting tracer missile most of the game.

[Ixtellor]

Play whatever you want. People who complain are whiny.

 

I just dinged 28 yesterday on my Pyro Merc and I have had ZERO problems leveling.

I am also level 26 Valor rank and I am always in the top 3 in damage and kills, and frequently # 1 in kills and damage.

 

You can play any class and any spec and be successful in this game, and people that claim otherwise are little #@$'s.

 

The only thing I now play are the classes and spec that people say 'dont play'... and I have ZERO problems.

[Macroecon]

Your forgetting the one thing sorcs and sages both have which is interrupts. Sure you can juke one but then they also have stun. As far as casts go Power Shot does even more damage than Tracer Missile and the only thing that makes it better to cast for Arsenal are the talents that directly affect it.

 

Power Shot is horrible. You cast it twice and your heat stack is already badly impacted. Whereas you can cast TM 8 times in a row with less effect on your heat stack. And this is why interrupts don't bother an Arsenal. A sage interrupts Power Shot and you've screwed yourself out of a quarter of your heat stack. A sage interrupts TM and who cares? You just cast it again.

 

Sorcs can't cleanse our Pyro dots they are considered tech effects. Cleanse from operatives and other mercs can be an issue though. Thermal Detonator is used for the damage it does, which is quite significant, not the stun against weak mobs as you suggest. Merc Pyro is not a PvE build, I'm not really sure how you came to this conclusion. There are no encounters where it is better to have the mobile damage that Pyrotech offers rather than the turreting capabilities that Arsenal provides.

 

You first point is well taken. TD however is far worse than TM. It costs on average more heat (after taking into account RNG), it does less damage and it has a CD. It is far inferior as a PvP weapon than TM. TD's optimal use is as a segregated attack - after you cc a strong/silver mob you use TD against an adjacent standard mob.

 

 

I think you are either trolling or misguided when you say that Arsenal is the superior spec for warzones because of the Tracer Missile debuff that other classes can easily provide. I know that it does stack right now with other debuffs of the same type, however we know for certain that they are going to fix that. Therefore I have to conclude that without the stacking tracer missile debuff there is no reason going Arsenal in Rated Warzones unless you hate yourself and don't mind fake casting tracer missile most of the game.

 

Now who is comparing hypotheticals? You are saying that Arsenal with a TM nerf of some unspecified type is useless in WZ. Who knows? Depends entirely on how bad the nerf is. My claim is much more simple. Right NOW, a Pyro Merc in PvP is inferior to a Merc with TM.

 

The bigger issue I have is why the continued nerfing of any skill/class that threatens sage/sorc? They obliterated the only subclass (stabbies) that could kill a full strength sage/sorc, even if only the stabby could catch the age/sorc by surprise. Now they are going to nerf the only ability that allows any class to defend themselves against a sage/sorc. Sage/sorc was widely considered to be OP midway through beta and now here we are three months later and the only notable class changes have been to nerf abilities that threaten a competent sage/sorc.