PvP commandos

[dannycarr]

Here is a call to all the lvl 50 PVP commandos out there. My commando is 42 atm and when I get to 50 I will probably be doing some PVP. So here is my question, what spec do you play, and how are you finsing it? Pros and Cons just so I can get a feeling of different peoples experience.

 

For me I like the command and can't quite decide if I want to heal or DPS at 50. I like the healing on the commando (minus the green ray of death), but also like shooting the enemy with my HUGE cannon. so atm I am torn, and would love to hear from you as to your thoughts on your specs

[ArchangelLBC]

Here is a call to all the lvl 50 PVP commandos out there. My commando is 42 atm and when I get to 50 I will probably be doing some PVP. So here is my question, what spec do you play, and how are you finsing it? Pros and Cons just so I can get a feeling of different peoples experience.

 

For me I like the command and can't quite decide if I want to heal or DPS at 50. I like the healing on the commando (minus the green ray of death), but also like shooting the enemy with my HUGE cannon. so atm I am torn, and would love to hear from you as to your thoughts on your specs

 

 

My advice for sub 50 Commandos who are interested in PVP is to reroll another class. Although if you like healing you should do just fine in 50 PVP. If you want to do damage though you'll be much better off on pretty much any other class.

[JasonNH]

Combat medics are in a pretty good spot with 1.4 right now. I haven't played the other specs but everything I have seen confirms what ArchangelLBC says.

[TUXs]

If you want to PvP as a Commando, I suggest you go either Assault or Medic.

 

I run Assault because...well, because I suck as a healer tbh, but also, I feel mobility is key. Gunnery is far too stationary imo for a viable PvP build. Some can pull it off great, but I only know one Gunnery Commando who can even come close to me as an assault spec in PvP.

 

And please...don't wait until 50 to PvP. That's silly. Get your feet wet prior to Expertise.

[Kerensk]

I've been having a blast with the Assault Commando the last few days. Never listen to people that tell you to re-roll. A well played Command can still be amazingly good.

 

I played 8 (non-ranked, PUG) rounds tonight and was ALWAYS in the top 50% of my team for commendations. Top DPS score except 2 games where another awesome Commando scored higher. And in a couple games we lost I still outscored over 50% of the winning team in commendations (but didn't see the DPS scores in those ones).

 

However I think the DPS Commando is very dependent on how well your team plays together. You're a support class not a 1on1 hero so if your team decides to be Rambo and play 1on1 matches by themselves you'll get cut down pretty quick. Find some Melee DPS players and follow them as a wingman, targeting their targets if you end up in a poor team.

[dannycarr]

TY for your input, I have been playing pvp all the way through, and also have a level 50 sage healer which I am playing also. I think I may go assault so I can take a break from the healer when I am getting fed up of being trained lol (as well all know healers die first).

 

Its nice to see commandos still out the pushing big numbers, but as you said they are a support role. Its a real shame how squishy they are considering they are a heavy armour wearing class.

[Eillack]

Combat medics are in a pretty good spot with 1.4 right now. I haven't played the other specs but everything I have seen confirms what ArchangelLBC says.

 

I play a Combat Medic now, still fairly new, at fully being one, but I have 1 War Hero and full Battlemaster set and on a really bad game I get a min. of about 120-140k healing (with constant stunlocks, etc). Overall I'd agree with others that DPS Commando isn't reallt worth it in PvP, healing seems to be the only decent job we can do know in PvP.

 

TY for your input, I have been playing pvp all the way through, and also have a level 50 sage healer which I am playing also. I think I may go assault so I can take a break from the healer when I am getting fed up of being trained lol (as well all know healers die first).

 

Its nice to see commandos still out the pushing big numbers, but as you said they are a support role. Its a real shame how squishy they are considering they are a heavy armour wearing class.

 

You should have seen Troopers during Beta / PRe-launch, all the interview vids that mention them too...Troopers were described and shown to be feared and an insane amount of power and instant-doom for those who oppose it...then the nerfs came early in game making healing poor, then dps got nerfed making dps and healin poor, then Troopers / Commandos were a joke and were instant target practice / medal farms..now at 1.4 Commandos / Troopers are finally making a comeback with heals!

Edited October 2, 2012 by Eillack

[SpaniardInfinity]

I fulltime heal on my Commando, but I will occassionally respect for a week or so and play a different build.

 

- Combat Medics. Pros: best at single target healing, namely tanks, yourself, or other healers. Should be more durable than the other healers when geared/played right. Fairly good at managing ammo assuming your healing output is high. Cons: very weak at healing groups, especially for "triage" healing (people all at low HP). No real escape mechanic, but was given some tools to make LOS easier to accomplish on melees. Dependent on casts making them less mobile and vulnerable to interruption.

 

- Gunnery. Pros: I'd love to see one lol. Cons: Terribly easy to shutdown because of their high dependence on channels attacks, especially Grav Round (which procs/buffs nearly everything else in the tree). With this said, Gunnery I think has a very high skill floor in the 50 bracket because of this vulnerability, and part of this is because several bad habits (for better or for worse) need to be broken in their gameplay (largely because they only just now got an interrupt).

 

- Assault: Pros: I'm surprised so many people have been overlooking the fact that you can still use all of your attacks at 30 meters. Vanguard just got nerfed down to pretty much exclusively 10m, effectively making them melee. Commando Assault Specs can still hunt for their victims at 30m, making the choice between Commando and Vanguard Assault a matter of range v. burst (respectively). Cons: Like all Assaults, it's a glass cannon build. Commando also lacks the burst of their Vanguard bretheren because the skills in the other AC trees are better for the build that Commando options (ie. more armor pen + more damage done on HIB + more elemental damage). As mentioned before, it's up to you to decide if you prefer range or burst and whether or not this is actually a pro or a con to you.

[SafeJungleFever]

reroll.

 

I'm a gunnery commando and pretty damn good. haven't played in months, went on tonight to grind my WH relic for ops. Played two matches. Top DPS twice, top kills twice. Murdered the ball carrier like it was my job, ground down tanks, tied up healers, even 1v1ed and won against an operative and a sent. Was told both times by my team 'commando DPS aren't effective in PVP'. Well then, what the crap was I doing?

 

Even if you kick tail, you won't be taken seriously.

Edited October 11, 2012 by SafeJungleFever

[raptorcrewchief]

Assault spec is the way to go. There is a pretty good rotation as well for some nice dps: Incendiary Round>Assault Plastique>Charged Bolts>HiB>Full Auto>HiB(if available) You can knock down their health pretty quick that way. I've been doing that for a while now with amazing success.

[Mercury_Down]

Assault spec is the way to go. There is a pretty good rotation as well for some nice dps: Incendiary Round>Assault Plastique>Charged Bolts>HiB>Full Auto>HiB(if available) You can knock down their health pretty quick that way. I've been doing that for a while now with amazing success.

 

Unless they have fixed the false proc issue (which I don't think they have) this rotation could be a waste of your HIB proc. By firing off charged bolts before HIB you could set off the proc. You'd be better off going incendiary round>AP>Sticky Grenade>HIB>Full Auto/CB>HIB. Also throw in reserve powercell/recharge cells where appropriate.

Edited October 12, 2012 by Mercury_Down

[ArchangelLBC]

Unless they have fixed the false proc issue (which I don't think they have) this rotation could be a waste of your HIB proc. By firing off charged bolts before HIB you could set off the proc. You'd be better off going incendiary round>AP>Sticky Grenade>HIB>Full Auto/CB>HIB. Also throw in reserve powercell/recharge cells where appropriate.

 

What this guy said.

[raptorcrewchief]

Using AP and sticky grenade together uses too much ammo. With my rotation, its easy to manage your ammo and still deal damage.

[TrueNovaZero]

You can actually do very well in gunnery as well -- someone who doesn't attack you while standing in your LoS for about 6-12 seconds will cry. Or die. You can ward off melee attackers extremely well now -- I have no problems keeping watchmen sents at bay (combat I still somewhat struggle with since 3 roots is a bit hard to top). The ability to insta-advanced med probe every 3 grav rounds (even 2 grav rounds -- 80% cast reduction on a 1.5 sec cast? Still beautiful) with a 4 second root on stockstrike... you can almost hear the other player swearing as you're healing right in front of them. Also note; ammo management is so much easier in gunnery. Basically, you're sweet right now regardless as far as 1.4 goes -- the slow nerf for assault spec might get you down but still.

 

(For anyone wondering -- you should be cleansing yourself the moment people try to dump physical dots on you -- watchmen sents for example).

[xxIncubixx]

I've been having a blast with the Assault Commando the last few days. Never listen to people that tell you to re-roll. A well played Command can still be amazingly good.

 

I played 8 (non-ranked, PUG) rounds tonight and was ALWAYS in the top 50% of my team for commendations. Top DPS score except 2 games where another awesome Commando scored higher. And in a couple games we lost I still outscored over 50% of the winning team in commendations (but didn't see the DPS scores in those ones).

 

However I think the DPS Commando is very dependent on how well your team plays together. You're a support class not a 1on1 hero so if your team decides to be Rambo and play 1on1 matches by themselves you'll get cut down pretty quick. Find some Melee DPS players and follow them as a wingman, targeting their targets if you end up in a poor team.

 

thats not the point, the point is simply vanguard assault specialist is better...

[iamef]

As someone who has played both Assault and Gunnery, I can tell you that both are very effective in PvP, though either way a Commando is certainly more challenging to play than Vangaurd because, I think, all our defensive abilities lean towards active vs. passive.

 

I ran Assault from recruit gear to almost full war hero, and, unless my team was getting rolled, would consistently put up 350 to 450k in damage. I just switched back to Gunnery cause I am playing more PvE, and after a week or so of playing and tweaking my talet tree, I am back in the 300k to 400k damage range, and getting better all the time.

 

When I play, I make generous use of Plasma Grenade > Mortar Volley on groups, and combined these hit for 4 to 6k+ per target. Not a kill, but alot of pressure on enemy healers and of course makes people scatter, cancel cast, etc. Sticky Grenade is an excellent cap buster before you die (delayed AoE) and of course the spamable Hail of Bolts is great for preventing cap or scattering healers, or other casters. AoE is probably Commando's biggest strength.

 

Getting back into Gunnery, I find I have slightly less mobility (one less Instant than Assault) but of course Assualt can DoT on the move and therefore make targets vulnerable to HiB on the move as well. But, if u are running around trying to use that instant (Incendiary Round) all the time, you'll burn up your ammo real quick. Of course as Assault, Hammer Shot also can apply your DoT, so you end up spreading around a lot of damage when that procs. However, once you get into Gunnery, which I feel I am really starting to learn, you can really start taking out single targets, in a way that Assault always felt lacking. When I proc Curtain of Fire, Full Auto hits for huge damage... Like 1200 to 2000 per tick. For 3 ticks! And Demo Round with 2 to 4 stacks of Grav Vortex: 5k+ easy.

 

When it comes to staying alive, Tech Overide (long cooldown, I know) plus Medical Probe is ur friend. Combined with Charged Barrel you should be able to hit yourself with 5 to 7k in heals in 1.5 secs. Combined with our shield and Adreneline Rush, I rarely get killed in 1v1s vs. anything. Root (stock strike) and kite with hammer shot melees when they have a bubble or other def cooldown up, and wait till u see them start taking damage again to use your big hitters. Don't waste your high damage/ammo rotation on a Mara with 20% health u just knocked back and is now walking towards you with 99% damage reduction, only to ping away at them with Hammer Shot once they get in your face and Ravage you because all ur stuff is on cooldown or u are out of ammo.

 

So, again, Commando is very viable and has a lot of utility in PvP. You need to be able to switch between single target and helping ur team with all our AoE (i.e. drop it on the melees who are beating ur healers). You need to use your self heals, or use you heals to save a team mate. You need to spread around and apply DoTs with Hammer Shot as Assault, or debuff armor with Grav Round as Gunnery, and not just on ur target but on ur teammates as well. Have a good healer on your team? Use Tech Override for instant Plasma Genade instead of Medical Probe. You need to cleanse DoTs from pyros, etc. (I actually saw someone say our cleanse was useless!! What?!? You like burning and taking an extra 1.5k in damage while u run through the tunnel in Voidstar???) It's hard to play Commando well, and perhaps that is where it got the weakest advanced class perception, but well played we are as good or better than anything else.

 

EDIT (because talk is, as they say, cheap):

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/20/voidstar1.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/832/hutball2.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/194/novare1.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/5/hutball1.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/502/voidstar2.jpg/

...

Edited October 18, 2012 by iamef

[johnyangelo]

Commando (either combat medic or dps) represents ultimate challenge for player's skills atm in TOR, there is not another way to put it.

 

Anyway if you want to still be lvl 50 and do pvp, make sure you save 3500 ranked comms and 2000 wz comms so you can buy BM set once you hit lvl 50.

[HybridCode]

DPS Assault Spec

[ladwar]

Commando (either combat medic or dps) represents ultimate challenge for player's skills atm in TOR, there is not another way to put it.

 

Anyway if you want to still be lvl 50 and do pvp, make sure you save 3500 ranked comms and 2000 wz comms so you can buy BM set once you hit lvl 50.

its mostly how u want to play it as the commando class is a harder class for pvp. but for dps in pvp i would say gunnery lack the mobility that pvp needs but hits the harder of the two in burst while assaults dots are more usefully and if u get it should cleanse it but most healers are to busy to cleanse so they can rack up alot of dps in the end meeting the burst dps u get from gunnery or greater. i run assault but played with gunnery as i don't the healing as it stands in 1.4. becuase of mobility it lacks to to manage ammo(alacrity vs power/aim/surge&crit)

[johnyangelo]

its mostly how u want to play it as the commando class is a harder class for pvp. but for dps in pvp i would say gunnery lack the mobility that pvp needs but hits the harder of the two in burst while assaults dots are more usefully and if u get it should cleanse it but most healers are to busy to cleanse so they can rack up alot of dps in the end meeting the burst dps u get from gunnery or greater. i run assault but played with gunnery as i don't the healing as it stands in 1.4. becuase of mobility it lacks to to manage ammo(alacrity vs power/aim/surge&crit)

 

Well gunnery dps have to be played silimar to sniper or gunslinger. Keeping max distance but once you get focused you have only few escaping tools. Lack of mobility is not that big of a problem since in every wz there is a role to be filled even for static classes like gunslinger or commando (e.g. keeping mid in HB).

 

I'm just saying that overall it takes more skill to pull same numbers as smash monkeys ...

[Asukaa]

Here is a call to all the lvl 50 PVP commandos out there. My commando is 42 atm and when I get to 50 I will probably be doing some PVP. So here is my question, what spec do you play, and how are you finsing it? Pros and Cons just so I can get a feeling of different peoples experience.

 

For me I like the command and can't quite decide if I want to heal or DPS at 50. I like the healing on the commando (minus the green ray of death), but also like shooting the enemy with my HUGE cannon. so atm I am torn, and would love to hear from you as to your thoughts on your specs

 

I play Assault for PVP. My vids are in the sig. Honestly, you will be just as good 1v1 as you would be in group dynamic. The only thing is, with group dynamic, you literally offer them nothing other than dps. And that dps can get shut down if 2 or more people focus you. Assault Commando is not an easy class to be good at. It takes a lot of time, skill and intelligence to be good with that class because of all its weaknesses. There are 2 classes that will auto-win against you almost all the time. Shadow/Assassin and Vanguard/Powertech (pyro/assault). Juggs/Guardians will roll you if (and only if) they took the "after leap immunity." If they don't have it, they are just as easy to kill as mara's. I would seriously advise you to go heals or reroll a Jugg or Vanguard. This AC takes a lot out of you and if you're not ready for it, it can ruin the game for you.

 

 

That's my 2 cents.

[Gyronamics]

reroll.

 

I'm a gunnery commando and pretty damn good. haven't played in months, went on tonight to grind my WH relic for ops. Played two matches. Top DPS twice, top kills twice. Murdered the ball carrier like it was my job, ground down tanks, tied up healers, even 1v1ed and won against an operative and a sent. Was told both times by my team 'commando DPS aren't effective in PVP'. Well then, what the crap was I doing?

 

Even if you kick tail, you won't be taken seriously.

 

Depends how ignorant your team is.

 

Unless I spend a lot of time guarding a door or turret I'm right up there when it comes to dps. If I'm not first I'm second or third.

 

If I can score in Huttball the other team are simply being dominated and a monkey could score. Hugely vulnerable to any kind of CC/pull/knockback on the way. No fast distance movement like a leap/sprint.

 

Major issues when it comes to a 1v1 against knights/warriors or snipers/slingers... so that just leaves other casters including my mirror which I consider easy targets (the irony). The sneaky classes are not actually that tough but if more than one jumps you you're screwed.

 

So the role we are forced into is support DPS with emphasis on using AOE at every opportunity.

 

Now if your team is roughly balanced or dominating the enemy you're going to have a field day, opportunities to pile in on fights at any distance up to 30m and trash enemy players or chase healers while melee are scrapping.

 

But when your team is doing badly you frankly suck, you can't support anything when the fight is on you, the shield sucks vs gankpacks (1300exp, shield up and I still take 5k crits from smashmonkeys) and you can't make (meaningful) distance to create breathing room or to fight back.

 

Anyone who's played the class understands this, anyone who moans at you for being good at all you can do can go do one. They should start more fights that you can back them up on.

Edited November 8, 2012 by Gyronamics