Leveling a Gunnery Commando for PvP fun. Just had a few questions....

[Marqhill]

Now I know that generally speaking the first suggestion for anyone leveling a commando for PvP is "STOP!", especially if they're leveling gunnery, but honestly I'm just using this guy for fun and actually I'm really enjoying myself. I've gotten to level 25 and I've had Grav Round for a few levels and it seems to be the core of the gunnery commando's skills. So I pretty much have that much of an understanding so far. At which point I want to ask some other questions regarding some of the peripheral skills that commandos get.

 

1) Hail of bolts. It seems to be a handy AoE ability that does a good job of interrupting people from capturing an objective but other than that it's not that great. Does this ability ever get any better or is that all it's good for? It's not a bad ability. 30 meter range, no cool down and it's an AoE again it's great for interrupting. But it doesn't do too much damage.

 

2) Plasma Grenade. Is this ability as horrible and useless as it seems or is it just me? I removed it from my tool bar already. It uses WAY too much ammo and does so little damage it's laughable. It's on a 30 second cool down for some reason as well so it's not even a good ability to use in conjunction with Sticky bombs. Does this ability get better anywhere along the lines or am I right leaving this one off my toolbar?

 

3) Ammo management. Any suggestions for ammo management? It seems like a lot of the skill to manage ammo come in later levels. Right now I find myself running low on ammo in war zones and it's kind of obnoxious. But looking at the skill trees it seems like there willa ctually be abilities later. Or maybe it's something I'm doing. All I'm really doing in war zones is spamming Grav Rounds, high impact bolt and full auto. Occasionally I drop a sticky bomb as well. I seem to be running out of ammo pretty consistently.

 

I may think of some more questions later but for now these were my big things. Any help would be great. And any other suggestions would also be great. I've actually already got his war hero gear by playing on my Guardian So right now it's just a matter of getting enough money to swap out all the mods. But my character won't be 50 until well after 1.4 launches sot he price on swapping mods will go down. Thanks for the help in advance.

[KruelhandJorb]

I just finished lvling my Gravround spamming Commando through mostly PvP to 50. I had more fun PvP on that toon then the other 50's I have by a long shot. I could top DMG Kills and Objective points in most all WZ's on the regular.

 

The key is finding a flexible place to set up and not staying completely stationary, keeping Sticky Grenade for when you have to move and knowing when to use your Ammo.

 

You can use Plasma Grenade very effectively at the start of Hutball especially but you're going to need to pop your armor recharge. Get up top, where they will all cluster for the ball and throw out sticky, then start your Plasma. When it hits at the end of your castbar, Sticky will go off and they'll hit at the same time. While you're charging your plsma get your mortor volley target up and put that down just as plsma hits and you can burn down everyone in the area to at least 50% health right away, what's not to love about that. At that point you either have to recharge or move. Moving will give you a shot at getting your ammo up.

 

The real kicker to gunnary isn't so much Grav Round as it is Full Auto when CoF procs. Grav Round x2 then Demo Round, HiB and Full Auto (obviously at 25 you cannot do that rotation but you will be able to at 40). This is incredible dmg.

 

Hail of Bolts I find really isn't worth the ammo. It's good for covering doors from plants and breaking caps in Novare. Other then that it's splash dmg that is easily healed through imo.

[DariusCalera]

Now I know that generally speaking the first suggestion for anyone leveling a commando for PvP is "STOP!", especially if they're leveling gunnery, but honestly I'm just using this guy for fun and actually I'm really enjoying myself. I've gotten to level 25 and I've had Grav Round for a few levels and it seems to be the core of the gunnery commando's skills. So I pretty much have that much of an understanding so far. At which point I want to ask some other questions regarding some of the peripheral skills that commandos get.

 

1) Hail of bolts. It seems to be a handy AoE ability that does a good job of interrupting people from capturing an objective but other than that it's not that great. Does this ability ever get any better or is that all it's good for? It's not a bad ability. 30 meter range, no cool down and it's an AoE again it's great for interrupting. But it doesn't do too much damage.

 

2) Plasma Grenade. Is this ability as horrible and useless as it seems or is it just me? I removed it from my tool bar already. It uses WAY too much ammo and does so little damage it's laughable. It's on a 30 second cool down for some reason as well so it's not even a good ability to use in conjunction with Sticky bombs. Does this ability get better anywhere along the lines or am I right leaving this one off my toolbar?

 

3) Ammo management. Any suggestions for ammo management? It seems like a lot of the skill to manage ammo come in later levels. Right now I find myself running low on ammo in war zones and it's kind of obnoxious. But looking at the skill trees it seems like there willa ctually be abilities later. Or maybe it's something I'm doing. All I'm really doing in war zones is spamming Grav Rounds, high impact bolt and full auto. Occasionally I drop a sticky bomb as well. I seem to be running out of ammo pretty consistently.

 

I may think of some more questions later but for now these were my big things. Any help would be great. And any other suggestions would also be great. I've actually already got his war hero gear by playing on my Guardian So right now it's just a matter of getting enough money to swap out all the mods. But my character won't be 50 until well after 1.4 launches sot he price on swapping mods will go down. Thanks for the help in advance.

 

1: Hail of Bolts is extremely useful in both PVE and PVP situations because it has no cool down and will hit everything within its circle.

 

2: Plasma grenade becomes a lot more useful once you get Tech Override. It will allow you to insta-cast the ability which makes it a very good opener against groups of mobs or enemies.

 

3: Use Hammer Shot more. You need to work it into your rotation as often as possible.

[Luceon]

1. Hail of bolts does not get any better. It can also be good in FP or ops to deal with trash mobs but I prefer to only use it if the mobs are standard or weak, anything higher and it is just a waste of ammo.

 

2. As DariusCalera said when you get tech override (insta-cast the next ability used) along with reserve power cell (no ammo costs for the next ability used) and it can be a good additional dps to your target(s). However there is some consideration whether to use plasma nade or MP with tech and reserve to heal yourself instead of doing additional damage.

 

3. ammo management does get better at higher lvls (especially when you can generate ammo just by having armor piercing cell) and until then you need to identify when you need to go from spamming skills to using hammer shot to mitigate the fast ammo usage.

[Jherad]

You definitely have the right philosophy. If you're just playing for fun, and don't intend any serious competitive PvP you'll be fine

 

1) Hail of bolts. It seems to be a handy AoE ability that does a good job of interrupting people from capturing an objective but other than that it's not that great. Does this ability ever get any better or is that all it's good for? It's not a bad ability. 30 meter range, no cool down and it's an AoE again it's great for interrupting. But it doesn't do too much damage.

 

It IS pretty good in PvP at 50 with good gear, and certainly deserves space on a hotbar, but as far as AOEs go, your first choices will be mortar volley, plasma grenade and depending on situation, pulse cannon. Save it for when you've used everything else, people are bunched together, and you don't have a priority focus target. Also ok for stopping caps.

 

2) Plasma Grenade. Is this ability as horrible and useless as it seems or is it just me? I removed it from my tool bar already. It uses WAY too much ammo and does so little damage it's laughable. It's on a 30 second cool down for some reason as well so it's not even a good ability to use in conjunction with Sticky bombs. Does this ability get better anywhere along the lines or am I right leaving this one off my toolbar?

 

This ability is a core STAPLE of mine. Use it to initiate any PvP encounter when possible (when the cast time is less of an issue), especially with tech override/reserve powercell. The damage is certainly not bad, especially given that the dot is elemental and cuts through armor. I'm happy enough to use this on one target, if you hit a few then it is excellent. Because it is a dot, using this, then sticky grenade, then winding up the grav rounds, full auto, demo and high impact bolt will cause most enemies health to drop WAY faster than they are comfortable with.

 

3) Ammo management. Any suggestions for ammo management? It seems like a lot of the skill to manage ammo come in later levels. Right now I find myself running low on ammo in war zones and it's kind of obnoxious. But looking at the skill trees it seems like there willa ctually be abilities later. Or maybe it's something I'm doing. All I'm really doing in war zones is spamming Grav Rounds, high impact bolt and full auto. Occasionally I drop a sticky bomb as well. I seem to be running out of ammo pretty consistently.

 

Yeah, ammo management gets better at higher levels, especially as your damage output increases requiring fewer casts per kill. When initiating a fight from range, using abilities like plasma grenade and sticky, space them out with hammer shots in between. Same for your grav/full auto rotations - sustain DPS spaced with hammer shots. Don't go below 2/3rds ammo unless you absolutely positively MUST kill something right this second.

 

We're called grav round spammers, but played well we're also hammer shot spammers. If you're in range of an enemy that isn't CC'd, use and abuse hammer shot until you're ready to cast something else. All the time. It adds up.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Jherad

[Tom_the_Narwhal]

Priorities... Use these in order when they're on cooldown.

 

High Impact Bolt with 5x Charged barrel.

Demo Round with 5x Gravity Vortex from Grav Round.

Full Auto when proc'd with Curtain of fire.

Tech override +> Reserve Powercell +> Plasma Grenade when all 3 are up and there is a group to hit.

Grav Round and/orCharged Bolts (Have CB assigned to the Shift + whatever button GR is bound to) so when it gets interrupted you can switch to it, as they have similar damage and both proc curtain of fire.

Hammer Shot layered every 2-3 attacks so keep ammo regen up.

 

As one of the most experienced commandos on my server, if not the game, I can safely say you're going to get it rough in PvP. If a marauder sees you, they'll do everything in their power to keep you on lockdown. We have the 2nd best burst DPS in the game but we need a lot of support from our team as we are VERY vulnerable. Personally, If I was a perma-pvper I'd use assault spec because that has epic burst when you do it right.

 

For assault spec...

 

HiB when proc'd with CB or FA.

Full Auto to proc HiB.

Incendiary round when it drops off target.

CB to proc HiB.

 

As an opening rotation for Assault Spec...

 

Assault Plastique +> Incendiary round +> Charged Bolts +> HiB

 

AP, CB, and HiB all execute their damage at the same when done in that order so get up to 12-13k damage burst in 1 effective GCD.

[SafeJungleFever]

I see no mention of Pulse Cannon. I go out of my way to use this whenever off CD and i'm in melee range.

 

One of the keys to having a blast as a commando is knowing how to die. When it's all over hit your RP/TO/PG, sticky grenade, pulse cannon, and then hail of bolts all over your own face until you finally die. For extra class points blow your adrenaline rush, a medpack, and reactive shield while all this is going on. I've done a hilarious amount of dmg in kamikaze strikes with 'rotations' like that. I am not joking. And it's an incredibly good distraction on divided objective fights.