Can I play a gunnery commando...

[Jinnz]

... with a blaster rifle?

[MajorMack]

Yes, but you'll give up some damage as the cannon's hit a bit harder. (Perhaps someone here can quantify that? I can't.)

 

That being said, if you prefer the rifle then use it. Only thing that matters is you enjoying the game.

[Jinnz]

Cool thanks. Thats kind of annoying, i cant believe they didnt make any blaster rifles for commando's with the pre-requisite of being the commando AC so it wouldnt be OP for vanguards... oh well.

 

I thinking of making an alt on my friends server so this will probably sway me I think its fine if, as you say, its fun.

[JLapp]

I think high end assault cannons have around 15% more weapon damage than blaster rifles.

 

You will also lose the ability to use charged bolts or hail of bolts.

 

You're nerfing yourself quite a bit by using a blaster rifle...if you and the people you group with are fine with that, knock yourself out.

 

I would not run in group where a commando did not use an assault cannon.

[R_Ames]

i am not sure if the assault cannons do more damage or not but i know you will be giving up your hail bullets ( i think thats what it is called) i was going to use one on mine but when i swtiched i no longer had that abilty so if u dont care about that then go for it!

[SweetOldBob]

Just this morning, things were slow on Ilum and a Sith started chatting with me. He asked if commandos HAD to use cannons.

 

I said no, but that the other troopers would make fun of him if he didn't. Which is, in fact, true (I know from experience, I used to carry a blaster rifle.)

[Suwa]

I wouldn't say you miss out on too much. You would lose out on Charged Bolts - but that doesn't matter once you get Grav Round.

 

You can't use Hail of Bolts - but I don't know if that's really a huge loss. You have mortar volley, and sticky grenade and plasma grenade. I don't think this is a big deal.

 

You do lose out on weapon damage in comparison to an assault cannon, though.

[Ganrax]

Nobody can stop you from using one but if you plan on DPSing in groups, especially hardmodes and Operations, you want to use an assault cannon. Rifles have significantly less min-max damage than assault cannons which translates to a pretty significant DPS loss. On top of that you can't use charged bolts(not an issue if you are gunnery) and hail of bolts. Contrary to what people may tell you, hail of bolts is useful if you use it correctly as an AOE DPS filler when you're other AOE is on cooldown and I use it quite often at 50.

 

So basically if you want to play solo, use whatever you want. If you want to group as a DPS, use an Assault Cannon unless you plan on gimping your DPS and forcing the other DPS to carry you so you don't meet the enrage timer.

[pclchicagox]

At 50 on a test dummy I have higher dps with a blaster rifle. I don't know how this is, but I've tested it enough that it's true. 3-4 minute parses on the operation test dummy, 1250-1300 with a cannon (WH barrel) 1300-1400 with a BR (BM barrel) how this makes sense, I don't know. I'm thinking that this is not intentional. My rotation does not include anything other than Grav round, full auto, HIB, demo round and hammer shot. So far as I can tell hammer shot is the only thing 'nerfed' by using a rifle. Tech attacks, which are 90%+ of your damage go un-effected. Very odd. Very odd indeed.

[pclchicagox]

Have done more testing with blaster rifle versus assault cannon and I think that the slight stat differences in the mods that I had equipped in the guns made the difference in dps, not the type itself. That being said, they seem to be equal, and if not equal negligible in difference on an operations test dummy. I think quite a few things in SWTOR are just assumed to be a certain way because someone read them in a forum and took it as true, and never really tested it. So, to the OP if they ever come back to read this: Use a rifle if it pleases you, there will be a dozen that have not tested using one that will say you are 'gimped' but do your own research and see if it actually holds true for you. For me it does not. I'm fully aware that this just might be my combination of stats, but as I said, do your own testing before deciding how to play.

 

My stats:

2151 aim

39% crit

78% crit multiplier

195 acc rating

 

Ranged dmg changes from 1175 top end to 998 top end when I switch weapons. This doesn't effect the dmg of any of my shots except for hammer shot. I have tested them. Seperately. Grav round, demo round, full auto are all the same ranges with both weapons equipped. This really can't be intentional. But, it is true as of right now for my char. 5 hours of testing later, pick whichever you want. Unless you absolutely must have hail of bolts. I rarely use it personally. Yes, it can be a good aoe filler, but that's really not that important in the ops I run.

[Freeborne]

Sadly, you're going to lose a noticeable amount of damage. It's not just the mods, but how the gun modifies them. (This bums me out, because I too really want to use a blaster rifle as a commando. You don't need Hail of Bolts or Charged Bolts at end game, but the DPS loss hurts.)

 

I did some tests myself last week. My rifle and assault cannon had identical mods in them. I'm wearing a mix of rakata, with some black hole mods.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Agv8lQtwkvArdGxwTEp4WGM4dk9BWmo3d3pyVlUtc3c

(Note, my google doc has links to my AskMrRobot logs)

 

You can't rely on what your DPS is, unless you're doing a very long test sample.

 

I tested the following things seperately:

 

1. Hammer Shot

2. Full Auto (No Proc)

3. Grav Round x3 + Demo Round + High Impact Bolt. (Then waiting for cool downs, and doing all three again.)

 

My goal was to get precise measurements with the same amount of buffs, and debuffs. (While getting no random procs.)

 

Then looking at the max damage, the assault cannon does this much more damage with each ability:

 

1. Hammer Shot: 26 (per hit, and 3 hits) 78 damage

2. Full Auto: 228 (per hit, and 3 hits) 684 damage

3. Grav Round: 38 damage

4. Demo Round: 72 (5 stacks of debuff)

5. Hib: 357 (5 stacks of buff)

 

 

Note: I look at Max Damage because it tells you the general cap of each abilities damage. You can't depend on DPS because we have a high crit rate. Once sample you might crit 9 times, but another sample you might crit 30.

 

Max Damage is the only consistent thing I've been able to find via Ask Mr. Robot.

 

I wish it would also show Min Damage---because that would also give a clearer picture.

Edited July 2, 2012 by Freeborne