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AP PVP Spec

Makktenn

By Makktenn
in Vanguard / Powertech

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ICUto

ICUto

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Are there any updated AP specs floating around? Never tried it, and Pyro flat out sucks now

 

 

How about you just learn to adapt instead of saying it sucks? I like it better sense the change cause there's no more wasteful IM. Flame thrower is way to dodgy to ever be effective, and sense AP revolves around that, it will never be as effective. :cool:

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UGLYMRJ

UGLYMRJ

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Pyro is actually more bursty than it ever was and still an amazing damage dealing spec... it's just boring with it being more linear now. I will still use pyro for rated... I just don't enjoy it now.

 

I'm running a 10/31/0 for regular war zones and it's awesome. Healer pending. :D It's something I try to only run with a healer in my group but the amount of utility and the complexity in comparison to pyro makes this spec a lot of fun.

 

http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/bounty_hunter/powertech/#::fef5ef3efef6e4f2e12fef18:

 

It takes a little getting used to but I run it in the ion cylinder and with a shield generator and DPS gear. Obviously not going to be extremely tanky but once you get the hang of it, it's a really fun and useful spec to play. I've managed to top DPS AND protection in a single game. If having a decent healer with you and taunting players focusing him and peeling away it can be very effective. Me and one healer are often able to take on up to 4 players with ease.

 

Even solo queuing I've found it to be very effective by guard swapping, racking up a good 300k damage and 300k protection in some games and most importantly... enjoying the complexity of all the procs, stacks and the guard and taunts on top of it makes it a breath of fresh air in comparison to pyro as it stands right now.

Edited by UGLYMRJ
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UGLYMRJ

UGLYMRJ

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^^ good to know. I started to play my lvl 31 PT again and wow Pyro seemed a lot more bursty. I thought it was just me.

 

The difference is only not being able to open up from a distance and use the hit and run technique... but since explosive dart and thermal detonator are on separate CD's you can stack them up for some amazing burst.

 

In the few seconds it takes for ED and TD to explode you can flame burst, rail shot, rocket punch and potentially rail shot again on proc...

 

I mean.... most of that was there before except for the explosive dart stack but pyro already had some amazing burst and now you can stack an approx extra 1500 damage on top of that? Sometimes ED is hitting for over 2k on crit even.... pretty beastly.

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FeralPug

FeralPug

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When I play my PT in unranked, I don't play pyro anymore. 1.4 reduced pyrotech to an even simpler class, and it bores me to tears. Of course, I'm forced to play pyro in ranked games because of the stupid-easy burst.

 

For unranked I'm running AP even with all its frustrations. For fun I run a "flex" build, which allows me to switch between ion and high energy cylinders depending on what I'm doing:

 

http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/bounty_hunter/powertech/#::fef4e2f12e4f2e6fe7fef16:

 

Power armor + ion cyl give a flat 7% damage reduction to all incoming damage regardless of type. Add a 5% combust debuff and you've got 12% reduction to all incoming damage. With stabilized armor, this adds up to a great deal of survivability with a reasonable amount of damage output.

 

The trick with AP is that you rarely want to break stuns. Hell, I look forward to em with stabilized armor. I'll only break a stun if I need to interrupt a cap, or if I'm in a firepit.

 

Hutball is a finesse map, and survivability and mobility is really important. I usually run ion with a fortitude stim and shield generator.

 

With defense on Voidstar, you don't really need to kill anyone. Survival is king, as is watching the spawn timers and taunting and tying up enemy DPS. In VS I also switch to tank cylinder, endurance stim and shield gen. Hump pillars with HO and interrupt the caps. Let em stun you as many times as possible, and don't bother breaking unless you have to. Think of a stun duration as a significant survival buff.

 

The nice thing is that in HEGC, you can still do damage with this build (albeit significantly less than pyro). If you're super careful, you can run this build with points into pnuematic boots instead of flame barrage. You've got to watch ammo very carefully when you're running your tank cylinder though.

 

AP is a tremendously fun spec due to its flexibility. It is still totally unviable in ranked IMO, but I run AP in unranked just for sheer fun factor.

 

On my server I can't name anyone but myself who is running AP consistently. I hope that the devs are watching their metrics.

Edited by FeralPug
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Krozis

Krozis

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While I think noxxic is off on a few specs, I think you've quoted a fine Pyro build there and this is more or less an Advanced Prototype thread.

 

I love AP.... it's too bad it's still a little lackluster. It's funny to me that it appears that my favorite 'fun' specs are not the ones that BW wants me to use in PVP. Lightning on my Sorc, Arsenal on my merc, AP on my Powertech, Vengeance on my Jugg... wow I really have it backwards!

 

AP is fun, but it just doesn't cut it at all in high end PVP. Typically my Powertech is better geared for PVP than my Juggernaut, but everytime I play AP, I can't help but think how much better the AOE damage is on my Juggernaut in Rage spec... it's not even close.

 

Jugg does it faster, easer, and it's undefendable now... (you can't stun a jugg out of AOE'ing you to death.)

 

I too am bored out of my skull with Pyro.... but with all the smash/focus and cloakers in competitive PVP, I feel I am forced to play Pyro.

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Zunayson

Zunayson

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While I think noxxic is off on a few specs, I think you've quoted a fine Pyro build there and this is more or less an Advanced Prototype thread.

 

I love AP.... it's too bad it's still a little lackluster. It's funny to me that it appears that my favorite 'fun' specs are not the ones that BW wants me to use in PVP. Lightning on my Sorc, Arsenal on my merc, AP on my Powertech, Vengeance on my Jugg... wow I really have it backwards!

 

AP is fun, but it just doesn't cut it at all in high end PVP. Typically my Powertech is better geared for PVP than my Juggernaut, but everytime I play AP, I can't help but think how much better the AOE damage is on my Juggernaut in Rage spec... it's not even close.

 

Jugg does it faster, easer, and it's undefendable now... (you can't stun a jugg out of AOE'ing you to death.)

 

I too am bored out of my skull with Pyro.... but with all the smash/focus and cloakers in competitive PVP, I feel I am forced to play Pyro.

 

This, unfortunately. Luckily, meanwhile at AP-land, we can hit 6 targets :)

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Krozis

Krozis

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Yea, I don't think I can play AP in ranked, in fact if I went AP I'd imagine they'd want to replace me with another smash warrior, but it is fun.

 

With all the smashing going on right now... AOE in general, I almost wish the top of the AP tree gave us 40% mitigation. It would have been a nice magic bullet to the state of PVP right now on my server.

 

IE: if you don't smash/focus, you are probably a hybrid shadow/sin.

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