Tone down Powertech pyrotech/vanguard assault

[Eljayz]

Every MMO (including swtor) I've ever played had an awesome high burst class. However, almost all of those awesome burst classes were limited to light armor with little to no defensive cooldowns.

This is usually the archetype of the high burst class:

 

a) Medium mobility (perhaps a movement speed buff to get away, usually they have a snare or a knockback, most will get either a snare or a stun along with their class). Vanguard/powertechs can use High impact Bolt/Railshot, and have a full arsenal of abilities usable at 30 meters. These abilities can proc the plasma-cell which applies a small hard hitting dot that snares for 2 seconds. While that maybe 2 seconds, if one Vanguard/powertech is on a target, that dot is ALWAYS refreshing. Only time they would ever need to get into meele range is to refresh their abilities. (HiB/RS)

 

b) Light to medium armor. Vanguard/powertechs have heavy armor.

 

c) Little to no defensive cool-downs, you cannot be a tank AND have the highest burst in the game. The entire mechanic and survability of the class involve group play and having the tank, healers and other dps help keep you alive. Vanguard/powertechs have an AOE Stun on top of a damage reduction shield which reduces damage received by 25% for 12 seconds on a 2 minute CDs.

 

d) You expect glass cannon classes to be glass cannon and heavily dependent on its group setup to be able to free cast or use abilities which require casting/channeling to maximize damage. Vanguard/powertech abilities are all instant (the ones in their main rotation) and non require channeling/casting which does little to nothing to disrupt their rotation when focus firing a Vanguard/powertech.

 

e)Every other MMO has burst classes which are heavily dependent on the use of Cool-downs, Assault/pyrotech. They have 1 CD that they depend on offensively Battlefocus/Explosive Fuel increasing crit chance by 25%. Only cool-down they need which is on a 2 minute cool-down

 

In Swtor, every class that has a burst rotation has a sustained rotation that they can use while waiting to burst again. Perfect example is focus/rage sents/maras being able to spam slash in between force sweep cool-downs. While force sweep/smash is mostly AOE in a single target scenario they can get 5 force sweeps off in 1 minute,(or 4 in a minute if using the guardian/jugg setbonus following the rotation of Force) exhaustion/stasis/exhaustion/zen/exhaustion for maximum use of force sweeps. using 12 second sweeps/smash. Vanguard/powertech can easily get 7-8 Procs in one minute rotations plus the initial HiB/RS so that is 8-9 HiB/RS in a minute. Given that in a minute they can get at least 4 HiB at the minimum and 10 at the most, average would be between 7-8 HiB. If the target is a light armor class, the sentinel will average around 5.5-6k damage with 5 sweeps and 6-6.6k per sweep with the dps vindicator tank jugg/guardian setbonus. So we're looking at 27,500-30,000 damage with the guardian set bonus. 24,000-26,400 without the guardian setbonus.

 

In the same amount of time if the Vanguard/powertech averages 4.3-4.7 per Hib/RS crit and gets 8 of them off in one minute. That's 34,400-37,600 damage output in one minute at averaging 8 HiB/RS in a minute. Not including the damage from their dots, their HiB/RS refresh abilities or any of the other abilities they have. Vanguard/powertech damage from burst is SO HIGH that their burst can be considered sustained damage

 

It can be argued that force-sweeps/smashes if done properly are autocrits vs HiB/RS which are crit-based. A Vanguard/powertech will normally have around 32% ranged crit chance in full war-hero. Include the eliminator set-bonus which adds 15% to HiB/Rs so those abilities have 47% chance to crit naturally. When the 25% CD is popped that's a 72% chance to crit for 15 seconds which is enough time for 3 HiB/RS to crit.

 

Edit: Further examination of other classes show that almost every class has about 15 second CDs that prevent them from continually bursting the way vanguard/powertechs can.

 

Sents/Mara

Combat: 100% armor pen is on a 15 second CD, but can only use their entire burst rotation with masterstirke (25 second CD?)

Watchmen: Takes about 4 global cooldowns to apply all your dots, but their burst is mostly with zen which requires 30 stacks of centering, which takes a bit to generate or use valorous call to generate 30 on a 3 minute cool down.

Focus: 12 seconds between burst rotations, 15 if using guardian set bonus.

 

Guardian/Jugg:

Vigilance Usually takes 10-15 seconds for all CDs to reset

Focus: Same as above: 12 seconds between burst rotations, 15 if maximizing guardian set bonus.

 

Shadows:

Infiltration: Clairvoyance strike is the main ability here with no cooldown but most of the damage is from procs and accumulation of procs: Infiltration tactics 10 seconds and force breach stacks(exit stragegy) x 5 which can take up to 10 Global cooldowns to accumulate.

Balance: Force in Balance is your hardest hitting ability on 15 sec CD. Everything else is sustain

 

Sages:

Balance: same as above.

Telekinetics: 9 seconds turbulence(2 sec cast) auto crit. Telekinetic wave can be refreshed by disturbance but disturbance is cast so easily interrupt-able.

 

Scoundrel:

Scrapper: Stealth opener has a 7 second CD, backblast 12, sabotage charge 30 sec CD, blaster whip 15 seconds, sucker punch requires upperhand which can only be accumulated from blasterwhip or stealth opener shoot first.

Dirtyfighting: have to apply dots (one instant and one 12 sec CD), hermorage shot (15 sec CD) and wounding shot (requires upperhand)

 

Gunslinger:

Sharpshooter: Speedshot 15 sec(can be reset once every 45 secs), aimshot 15 sec, sabotage charge (30 sec) trickshot 6 seconds, (autocrit charged burst 1 minute)

Sabateur, revolves around sabotage charge (30 sec), shock charge 18 sec (resets if target dies or cleansed) speedshot 15 sec cd and incendiary grenade (16 sec cd).

Dirtyfighting: same as above except wounding shot is now channeled and has a 9 sec cd.

 

Commando:

Gunnery: Gravround(no cd), Demo round 15 sec(maximum damage requires 3 grav round debuffs) High impact bolt 15 sec CD, maximum damage requires use of 5 grav rounds.

Assault: For this class assault spec is very balanced, decent damage decent survability plus can hybrid heals.

 

Vanguards:

Tactics:Sticky grenade(15 s), gut(no cd), fire pulse(15 s), shockstrike(9 s), ion pulse x 5(no cd), pulse cannon (12 s). Throw High impact bolt in anywhere when you get the proc (15 s).

 

Assault: (any grenade of choices 15s), incendiary round, HiB (15 sec) Shockstrike or Ion pulse for HiB reset proc, then HiB.

Rinse and repeat

 

The current state of this game for ranked warzones involve all other dps classes to be overlooked and stack Vanguard/powertech teams. If one Vanguard/powertech can do that much damage mentioned above, having multiple that can burst that hard really kills the fun in this game as no other class has recyclable burst they way this one class does. In addition to the burst they have perhabs the best utility in the game as they have a pull, a 4 second ranged stun, a 2.5 second aoe stun and stealth detect. As well as being able to use perhaps all their major damaging abilities from a ranged. Their tech damage dots are elemental so it bypasses armor, and HiB/RS bypass 90% armor always.

 

Here are two common builds for

http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/trooper/vanguard/#::f8e2f9efef2ef8ef6e3fede2fef4e4:

This build is more for building around higher damage for all your abilities without the top tier ability.

http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/trooper/vanguard/#::f8e2f9efdf2ef15e8fef2efe4:

This build is the standard dps build which grabs the highest teir ability to increase burst output

 

Suggestions to tone vanguards/powertechs:

a)Move focused impact/Puncture (3/3 HiB/RS ignores 60% armor) Higher up the tactics/advance prototype perhaps to the 4th teir. This reduces the damage of HiB/RS and brings them down to the same level of commandos/mercs in terms of damage from HiB and bring dps commandos/mercs back into relevance.

 

b) Bring down the ranged of ALL Vanguard/powertech damaging abilities: Force their hand and make them play as a suedo melee class the way operatives/scoundrels are forced to play. It can be argued that the operative/scoundrel lethality/dirty fighting tree is their ranged tree while concealment/scrapper is their melee tree. However, operatives are forced to get into melee to use the majority of their high damaging abilities, wear medium armor and have no damage reducing ability/talents... while Vanguard/powertechs can stand at 30 meters, use HiB and reset the CD using one of 2 abilities on someone who is closer and recast HiB at someone further away. Reduce HiB's range to 10 meters and bring down all other damaging abilities (grenades, dots, etc) to 15 meters. Leave the abilities as is for mercenaries/commandos the same way it is for the scoundrel/gunslinger shared abilities(ranges on flashbang/distraction etc).

 

c) Increase the CD reset timer prototype particle accelerator/Ionic accelerator. That has been the traditional bioware fix for everything. Increase the cooldown of most major abilities which had discrepancies. Force sweep/smash had its cooldown increased to 12 seconds up from 9. Backblast for scoundrels increased the CD to 12 seconds from 9. Shootfirst/hidden strike now had a 7 second cooldown which prevented the use of double opener/knockdowns. But increasing the cooldown of the reset will not completely fix the class as it still has THE HIGHEST burst in the game in a matter of seconds... (HiB, refresh,HiB)

 

d) Reduce the damage done by the HiB for Vanguard/powertech ONLY. Don't touch the damage for merc/commandos as their damage is fine.

 

Or if you want to follow the direction you went with the changes to shadow/assassin tank trees in 1.2 adjust multiple things to address issue at hand. Personally I'd like to see prototype particle accelerator/Ionic accelerator completely revamped. Force it to instead of reset the active cooldown of HiB/RS, reduce the CD by x seconds, perhaps 6 seconds to begin. Every other class in the game has to set their burst up. Vanguard/powertech are the only ones with active bursts on 3 ability rotations with minimal setup required. Vanguard/powertech require no debuffs to place, no extra abilities, nothing to setup, nothing at all, DOT>HIB>Frefresh >HIB>Repeat.

 

Furthermore, examine Vanguard/powertech as a solo class and compare their abilities and their assault/pyrotech trees to every other tree of every other class. Vanguard/powertech will not win every 1v1 duel given equal level gear etc. However, reexamine the scenario duplicating class classes involved. Place 2 Vanguard/powertech against two of the same classes and see what the end result will be. Against 2 rage marauders, 2 Balance sages, mix and match the specs if needed and see who ends up standing in the end. Replay the scenario using 3 Vanguard/powertech against 3 of the same classes in an arena style fight. What about 4v4? 5v5? 6v6? Which other class in this game contains an aoe stun, a single target 4 second stun, a damage reduction shield, a pull and stealth detect? Now multiply each one by the number of Vanguard/powertech in a group.

 

This is what rated warzones has come down to.

 

Edit: i would like to mention this point, my friends and I discussed the prospect of perhaps setting up a 3v3 class vs class match and they said that depending on the skill it is possible to kill the powertech/vanguard combination. BUT we were all in unison agreeing that the level of difficulty will be immense for the non powertech/vanguard group. Which is the argument I'm making for this entire thread. The margin of error for non vanguard/powertech group is small, one mistake can cost them the match, while the powertech/vanguard group can do whatever as they can do so much damage have their pulls stuns and still win because they have a margin of error which is insignificant.

 

Also as a 2nd edit: Do the battles continuously without waiting for cool downs each time. A team with all their cooldowns will have a chance, but what about a team waiting or lacking cooldowns against powertechs/vanguards? 1v1 anyone has a chance against a powertech/vanguard when they have their cooldowns. But when botch classes have burnt their cooldowns and begin to fight again powertech still can put out far more damage in less time and win everytime when cooldowns are not involved.

 

I really expect little from bioware/swtor developers at this point in the game as they left the class virtually untouched as every other class got revamped. They ignored this issue for far too long and as far as the rest of the community goes bioware/swtor developers really could care less. But with guildwars 2 around the corner expect more server mergers if they can't keep their player base happy.

 

So in conclusion: We have a class who has a burst so high it is considered sustain dps, who can perform the majority of its burst rotation from any range between 30 meters, has a gap closer in pull. Has an AOE 2.5 second stun and a single target 4 second stun. A class whose dps is so high, there is no point in running any other dps spec or any other class for any reason.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Eljayz

[Helfur]

/signed

 

I approve this message

[MidichIorian]

/signed

[Deewe]

Very interesting thx.

[Vize]

Great post. BW needs to re-evaluate this spec.

[Vlladd]

/signed - very good points brought up

[BillEdwardz]

Which other class in this game contains an aoe stun, a single target 4 second stun, a damage reduction shield, a pull and stealth detect? Now multiply each one by the number of Vanguard/powertech in a group.

 

Snipers/gunslingers might not have a pull or a stealth detect but they have all that on top of multiple roots and a pushback. Edit: forgot to mention the snipers shield is "aoe"

 

Also I read that you were comparing smash with RS... Keep in mind Smash can never miss as it is a force ability while RS is ranged and can be evaded and miss, especially since all these kids like to run full speed into and past the wall that is DR at ~270 surge rating leaving their accuracy rating near zero.

 

Also if you think you know what "rated has come down to" implying the need of massive damage/burst you couldn't be more wrong.

Edited July 27, 2012 by BillEdwardz

[Newyankalt]

Sith marruaders have an aoe stun.

[BillEdwardz]

Sith marruaders have an aoe stun.

 

Maras stun is break on damage and can last up to 4x longer than the PT/Vanguards stun. Snipers and operatives also have the same type of ability.

[flyersfan]

Vanguards ftw

[Zalfax]

Nice rant. Well written and all. My complements.

 

I'm not a statistical wizard but I will say this:

1. I've played this build plenty, with my friends all playing Jedi, and I don't really see an imbalance. The Knights definitively deal out a heck of a lot of damage and we all take our licks.

2. I've played all 4 Republic classes a lot and have not seen any huge difference in game play. The character class balance has been very good in my opinion. Now that you have brought it up I'll be sure to pay more attention.

3. It should also be noted that I don't PVP much. Plenty of Group Heroics, FP, and Op stuff, but not much PVP. Perhaps what you're saying makes a bigger difference there.

 

I'm not trying to discredit your opinion. Just trying to share my game experience. Hopefully I don't get bashed to hard for that.

[BillEdwardz]

Lets just put it this way: if you want to make a PT/Vanguard mad, roll a tank sin/shadow. Their 100% resistance ability and high defense rating shuts down the 3 abilities that is the Pyro/Assault spec.

[Eljayz]

Lets just put it this way: if you want to make a PT/Vanguard mad, roll a tank sin/shadow. Their 100% resistance ability and high defense rating shuts down the 3 abilities that is the Pyro/Assault spec.

 

Maybe, but you of all people should know the exploits of plasma cell as a shadow/sin popping resilience can still get a plasma cell dot through resilience and thus get HiB/RS through resilience. Hammershot has a 15% chance to activate plasma cell and hammershot hits about 5x per use. Not to mention that plasma cell does about 1500 damage over 6 seconds. And applying plasma cell on someone who is guarded also transfers the tank who is guarding.

 

Also you wanna argue that sniper/gs can do everything that a PT/VG can do, then do 20 straight duels one after another after another. The point is PT/VG don't need CDs while sniper/GS need to use all their CDs to survive.

 

Do the same thing 2v2 sniper/GS vs PT/VG. Sure when both classes have their cooldowns then its a fight. But when the GS/Snipers don't have their cds its a slaughter house.

 

P.S: @Zalfax All these points were meant for pvp, I don't pve much anymore lol

Edited July 27, 2012 by Eljayz

[Funick]

Lets just put it this way: if you want to make a PT/Vanguard mad, roll a tank sin/shadow. Their 100% resistance ability and high defense rating shuts down the 3 abilities that is the Pyro/Assault spec.

 

yeah 3-5 seconds of having to kill guy next to you first. if there's no one else left alive for me to kill then does it really matter? btw we can still apply our dot through resilience with hammer shot (dot will do no damage and only has a chance of applying) which allows for use of HiB.

 

vanguards strength isn't 1v1 although they can do very well in most 1v1s. its their burst and how difficult their dps is to kite or LOS due to their mix of mobility, range and passive defenses. This also allows for some of the best assisting.

 

There are other dps that can situationally put up more dps or set up as big of bursts but no other class can put out their dps and burst as consistently in rateds which is why you see so many top rated teams relying on vanguard/PT dps.

[Buffdog]

I have a WH Guardian, WH Shadow, and BM Gunslinger. NONE of these classes stand a chance unless everything is off of cooldown. If you give me and the PT equally skilled healers, I will die and then my healer will die, because there is just too much damage, range, utility, speed, and defense. I've had a Crit for 8,647 with my Guardian, but it takes me several seconds to get another big hit set up and when most players are sporting 20k health now, I'm dead in 4 to 8 seconds w/o med packs, healers, guardian leap, or some serious help. My shadow couldn't stand a chance 1v1 against an equally geared PT before 1.3 because there is now way to cleanse or absorb that much damage, and all the DoT just yanks you right out of stealth, and our one stun and one stun-break only make a 4 sec death a 8 sec death. Not to mention, all my other classes have a much longer rotation and do half the damage. Don't get me wrong, I do very well and usually fall in the top two most of the time in WZ's, so It is not just me that has a hard time. The problem now, is that EVERY noob has one to 50 now so instead of one or two, now there are 3 and 4 on either faction. I am constantly seeing them 20% to 30% higher in EVERY wz than every other dps class at the end of the rounds. If I do 500 /s 600/s, which is a pretty good round then they will do 700/s to 800/s. I saw one do 981/s in a feaking huttball match. That is OP. What really sucks is when you get a noob with one of the OP monsters that is running a Bot or Cooldown hack. What was OP becomes Immortal.

 

I'm all for the whole paper, rock, scissors, but Bioware has allowed bulldozer into the contest and paper, rock and scissors are just not in the same league. From release to 1.2, we had one button rocket spammers shooting missles up our tail-pipes and now we get stun locked and fire burned. Why has that class been given the silver spoon so much. THIS IS STAR WARS. Bounty hunters were a joke in the 6 movies that helped create and sell this game, clone troopers died in masses and most of the time didn't even have speaking parts, but the weakest classes in the game carry lightsabers. Am I missing something? If these game mechanics were applied to the movies, do you think that Lando could beat Yoda? Do you think one of the million copies of Jango Fett could beat Darth Maul or Darth Tyranus, or Darth Vader? Much less 3 or for Darth Vaders. I like Han, but I lead 99% of the DPS per rounds leveling my GS and had my way with just about every class except for the PT's. Heck, why not make some Ewok Characters and let them have nuclear weapons? Same dfference.

[dragonzay]

wow finally

can't agree more

instant ability, high survivability, high damage 90% armor penetration, can pull, can aoe stun

you don't need other squishy class to dps

 

in my server, low lvl pvp filled with PT/vanguard

sad, just sad everyone roll op class

 

/signed

[Baphomet_x]

whyt did the op use the phrase "glass cannon",somethign that uses heavy armor isnt a glass cannon

[Danbuterx]

And threads like this is why PvP should never have been included in a Star Wars game.

[lELADRIN]

Well I have played every AC on one side or the other and I can say that the PT pyro's dps is a little high for a heavy armor AC. But seriously what defense's do they have. A 2.5 sec aoe stun, hell a grenade is better. Their 4 sec electro dart, EVERY CLASS HAS A COMPARABLE ABILITY. Then there is the 25% damage reduction shield, compare that to Marauder/sent ability of 99% it's nothing. Defensive wise they aren't all that, my jugg, sin, sniper,marauder,scoundrel, & even commando can take a PT Pyro 1 v1. No my sage is toast to them but every class should have a "bane".

 

The problem is that there are several good skills in low tiers (1&2) that enhance the damage output of the pyro PT. That combined with the neverending dot is why you see such high damage numbers from pyros. Yeah their damage need's a nerf mainly to their dot.

 

Their defenses suck plain and simple and anyone who says otherwise hasn't played a pyro pt, they have the fewest defensive cool downs of any AC. Their heal is a joke, the aoe stun is short 2.5 sec and breaks on damage and the 25% shield .... well lets look at the "major" defensive skill of every class and compare. Juggs so outclass them on defensive skill it isnt funny, same with sins (stealth, Deflection, force shroud) worse if tank spec , sages(force armor & Heals), marauders(cloak of pain, force cammo, saber ward,undying rage), snipers(balistic shield, entrench, coverpulse), Operatives (stealth, Heals), & even commandos (concussion charge, heals). The defensive capabilities by EVERY CLASS is better so Glass cannon, mabee not but tin soldier yeah.

 

The changes suggested are ok save one, the reduction in range of their abilities. Yeah a reduction of the cd on rail shot IMO is more in line with other classes than a full reset as it currently is. That change along with a reduction of the dot in some way should be enough.

 

The problem is that when a nerf comes (i'm sure one will) it will be a huge nerf and the class will become unplayable. Some would say good and about time but no one want's their class nerfed, The pyro PT has too much dps and needs to be toned down some, but the claim by the op that they have too much defense is absurd.

[Buffdog]

Yeah, a 2.5 sec AoE stun is pretty big when it only takes a Decent PT 4 to 6 seconds to melt someone anyway. Add that to someone on a cooldown w/ no stun break or no knockback, which doesn't work half the time on PT's, and boom, you're looking out the spawn window again. Catch a PT on cooldown, and you still have 4 to 6 seconds to live cause they get to cycle they're rotation almost instantly. Just like the Rocket spammer, it's the cooldown. They also need some sort of animation so you can stop or int them from DoT'ng or setting up. all you see is fire and then your health just goes from full to 40% to gone.

[Eljayz]

Their defenses suck plain and simple and anyone who says otherwise hasn't played a pyro pt, they have the fewest defensive cool downs of any AC. Their heal is a joke, the aoe stun is short 2.5 sec and breaks on damage and the 25% shield .... well lets look at the "major" defensive skill of every class and compare. Juggs so outclass them on defensive skill it isnt funny, same with sins (stealth, Deflection, force shroud) worse if tank spec , sages(force armor & Heals), marauders(cloak of pain, force cammo, saber ward,undying rage), snipers(balistic shield, entrench, coverpulse), Operatives (stealth, Heals), & even commandos (concussion charge, heals). The defensive capabilities by EVERY CLASS is better so Glass cannon, mabee not but tin soldier yeah.

 

The game is fully sporting FOTM classes and pt/vg is definitely one of them. If you say that toning down the assault tree will completely kill the class then do so cause the level of difficulty in playing that one spec is minimal. Atleast this way they'd be on pace with every other class in the game. Personally i think tactics/advance prototype tree for vanguard/powertechs requires more skill, will do way more damage and still has the burst/sustain comparable to every other class. Just sounds like people would rather play easymode and have things handed to them on a silver platter than actually learn to play other specs with some degree of difficulty.

 

edit: i'd like to see a far more variety of classes. I'd like to see more people play vengeance/vigilance for juggs/guardians. More tactics pt/vanguards, DPS mercs/commando have been obsolete for while, would like to see them back to prominence. This game needs less tank shadows and more people playing infiltration/balance as shadows. This things will all happen once PT/Vanguards get toned down.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Eljayz

[Funick]

Well I have played every AC on one side or the other and I can say that the PT pyro's dps is a little high for a heavy armor AC. But seriously what defense's do they have. A 2.5 sec aoe stun, hell a grenade is better. Their 4 sec electro dart, EVERY CLASS HAS A COMPARABLE ABILITY. Then there is the 25% damage reduction shield, compare that to Marauder/sent ability of 99% it's nothing. Defensive wise they aren't all that, my jugg, sin, sniper,marauder,scoundrel, & even commando can take a PT Pyro 1 v1. No my sage is toast to them but every class should have a "bane".

 

as you said in your first sentence they are in heavy armor, the key to their defense in group play is having this passive mitigation so when guarded/supported by their team they easily survive, other classes if caught without cool downs or stun locked so they can't use their cool downs go down much easier. One of vanguard/PT 's biggest strengths is they don't depend on their cool downs to take people down or survive (although it gets some decent cool downs). Also you forgot to mention Vanguard/PT's biggest defense which is their ability to kite while still putting out full dps and keeping their target snared.

[Cherryluve]

/signed

 

Good points!

When you want to take at least 3 Vanguards/Powertechs to a rated team (heck almost need them) something is wrong. Would you want 3 -4 shadows? 3-4 gunslingers? 3 sages? It's all about the burst baby!

[Eljayz]

Further examination of other classes show that almost every class has about 15 second CDs that prevent them from continually bursting the way vanguard/powertechs can.

Sents/Mara Combat: 100% armor pen is on a 15 second CD, but can only use their entire burst rotation with masterstirke (25 second CD?)

Watchmen: Takes about 4 global cooldowns to apply all your dots, but their burst is mostly with zen which requires 30 stacks of centering, which takes a bit to generate or use valorous call to generate 30 on a 3 minute cool down.

Focus: 12 seconds between burst rotations, 15 if using guardian set bonus.

 

Guardian/Jugg: Vigilance Usually takes 10-15 seconds for all CDs to reset

Focus: Same as above: 12 seconds between burst rotations, 15 if maximizing guardian set bonus.

 

Shadows:

Infiltration: Clairvoyance strike is the main ability here with no cooldown but most of the damage is from procs and accumulation of procs: Infiltration tactics 10 seconds and force breach stacks(exit stragegy) x 5 which can take up to 10 Global cooldowns to accumulate.

Balance: Force in Balance is your hardest hitting ability on 15 sec CD. Everything else is sustain

 

Sages: Balance same as above.

Telekinetics: 9 seconds turbulence(2 sec cast) auto crit. Telekinetic wave can be refreshed by disturbance but disturbance is cast so easily interrupt-able.

 

Scoundrel:

Scrapper: Stealth opener has a 7 second CD, backblast 12, sabotage charge 30 sec CD, blaster whip 15 seconds, sucker punch requires upperhand which can only be accumulated from blasterwhip or stealth opener shoot first.

Dirtyfighting, have to apply dots (one instant and one 12 sec CD), hermorage shot (15 sec CD) and wounding shot (requires upperhand)

 

Gunslinger:

Sharpshooter: Speedshot 15 sec(can be reset once every 45 secs), aimshot 15 sec, sabotage charge (30 sec) trickshot 6 seconds, (autocrit charged burst 1 minute)

Sabateur, revolves around sabotage charge (30 sec), shock charge 18 sec (resets if target dies or cleansed) speedshot 15 sec cd and incendiary grenade (16 sec cd).

Dirtyfighting: same as above except wounding shot is now channeled and has a 9 sec cd.

 

Commando:

Gunnery: Gravround(no cd), Demo round 15 sec(maximum damage requires 3 grav round debuffs) High impact bolt 15 sec CD, maximum damage requires use of 5 grav rounds.

Assault: For this class assault spec is very balanced, decent damage decent survability plus can hybrid heals.

 

Vanguards: Sticky grenade(15 s), gut(no cd), fire pulse(15 s), shockstrike(9 s), ion pulse x 5(no cd), pulse cannon (12 s). Throw High impact bolt in anywhere when you get the proc (15 s).

 

Assault: (any grenade of choices 15s), incendiary round, HiB (15 sec) Shockstrike or Ion pulse for HiB reset proc, then HiB.

Rinse and repeat

 

This was edited into the OP.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Eljayz

[Nyoro]

I hate it when people cry nerfs because of PvP. I don't disagree that Assault spec needs some toning down but you have to take with one hand and give with the other. Vanguards are a very fun and capable DPS class at the moment and I'd hate to see that change.