Ask a Mercenary thread 2.0

[Werdan]

Werdan, Where this 10.3% come from? I thought you went for dps version of PVP set and stripped expertice mod for critical rating and surge, did you change that?

 

Thank you!

 

Im almost in full Champ gear with the exception of my main hand weapon. Doing this will put you around 10% expertise. I'm now using the Combat Medic set and have changed all my enhancement slots to crit/surge ones. I've gotten a number of duplicate hands and helm pieces so I just strip the crit/surge enhancements out and drop them in pieces that don't have it. I still have a few mod slots that have power in them and I might pull them out if I get crit versions.

[Elektrooo]

Which companion did you use for leveling?

[schwartzpedro]

Some questions about gear sets:

 

For a DPS merc,whats the best set name?I got confused since all of them give Aim.

[Lightmgl]

Im almost in full Champ gear with the exception of my main hand weapon. Doing this will put you around 10% expertise. I'm now using the Combat Medic set and have changed all my enhancement slots to crit/surge ones. I've gotten a number of duplicate hands and helm pieces so I just strip the crit/surge enhancements out and drop them in pieces that don't have it. I still have a few mod slots that have power in them and I might pull them out if I get crit versions.

 

I like the Combat Medic PvP set too for the crit/surge and the 2pc for the 3 seconds on energy shield for the same reason, I'm getting focused alot more now because apparently I've made people on my server quite mad.

 

I've taken to wearing 2 pieces of PVE Eliminator for PVP (15% tracer missile crit, so good) with 3 pieces of Champ Combat Medic and Crit/Surge/Expertise implants. You lose a couple of % of expertise but I think the 2pc Eliminator PVE bonus makes up for it fairly easily. I've also been using the medic guns since those give Crit instead of Power.

 

For PvP full on crit/surge just seems much better for bursting people while in PvE I slice off a little bit of it because I don't really need to be above 32% or 33% unbuffed and the diminishing returns really hurt the DPS over time even if the burst is really high.

 

 

Some questions about gear sets:

 

For a DPS merc,whats the best set name?I got confused since all of them give Aim.

 

Eliminator is our DPS set, at least by set bonuses it is. You'll want to get that for the set bonuses and then depending on how much you like min-maxing you might pull mods out of other gear to replace some of the Eliminator Mods. Thats my long term plan if I find the #s don't work out how I want them.

Edited January 8, 2012 by Lightmgl

[Steikke]

 

Eliminator is our DPS set, at least by set bonuses it is. You'll want to get that for the set bonuses and then depending on how much you like min-maxing you might pull mods out of other gear to replace some of the Eliminator Mods. Thats my long term plan if I find the #s don't work out how I want them.

 

And what exactly are the set bonuses for the eliminator gear?

Edited January 8, 2012 by Steikke

[Werdan]

Which companion did you use for leveling?

 

This time around I switched things up a bit. I used Mako until I got Gault. I used him until about the time I got to Voss and switched to Torian. I still use Torian as my companion even now. I did some companion vs companion duels with some guildies of mine and he always came out on top. He still needs some armor and mod upgrades but he is a pretty sweet dps companion. I'd like to get Gault geared as well as he can really put out some hard hits. He's a bit squishier than Torian though.

 

 

Some questions about gear sets:

 

For a DPS merc,whats the best set name?I got confused since all of them give Aim.

 

Believe it or not, the Columi Eliminator PvE set is actually really nice for pure dps Mercs. The 2 PC set bonus is +15% crit chance for Power Shot and Tracer Missile. The 4 piece set reduces Rail Shot heat by 8, essentially making it free when you use HVGC with the Upgraded Arsenal skill. The PvP Eliminator set is ok, but not as good as the PvE one. As far as stats go, you almost want to get duplicate items, especially hands and helms, as you can pull the crit/surge enhancements out and use them in items that don't have crit/surge in them. You can go to http://www.Knotor.com and do a search by the name of an item to see its set bonus.

[Jodou]

as mentioned by Dervin, 1-49 Cybertech is awesome. Helps you mod TWO slots (armoring mod and normal mod) in all your armor which is very beneficial. It will also make you a lot of money of you get the blue and epic schematics and then sell what you make (levels 20-49 all sell for me).

 

Also, you can craft level 25/40/50 speeders for yourself which is great.

 

cybertech/scavenging/underworld-trading work great 1-49

 

then just make a good friend who does armstech so you can get the barrels you need as you level.

I am hoping that there are some type of cybertech schematic drops in raids. otherwise it might just be a switch to Biochem or something ...

Sadly, grenades in PvP however are just not enough to justify CT. It's sad how broken biochem is in terms of benefits over any other craft, PvE or PvP. I've been holding out to see if they have any plans to buff us, but seeing how slow they've been to address real issues (emotes on speeders must've been high priority. . .) I'll probably switch soon after I craft an epic earpiece with aug slot.

[Nikolaiim]

hi, what interupts is available as a merc? i know electrodart, but many bosses are imune, and therefore it wont work...

[Auilt]

hi, what interupts is available as a merc? i know electrodart, but many bosses are imune, and therefore it wont work...

 

Mercenaries do not have a true interrupt. The only abilities we have capable of interrupting are knockbacks and stuns. In short, you are incapable of interrupting a boss.

[Kickinurass]

/subscibed

[chibo]

And what exactly are the set bonuses for the eliminator gear?

 

If I might help out here.

 

PVP - Set:

2 pieces - Reduces the cooldown on Jet Boost by 5 seconds.

4 pieces - Increases the critical strike chance of Rail Shot by 15%.

 

PVE - Set:

2 pieces - Increses the critical strike chance of Tracer Missile by 15%.

4 pieces - Reduces the heat cost of Rail Shot by 8.

 

I'm mainly doing PVP and I already got the 4 piece bonus on my PVP set, but I honestly consider taking 2 pieces of the PVE set, since I use Tracer Missile the most.

Especially by far more than Railshot. Just sad for the lack of about 100 expertise :/

Edited January 9, 2012 by chibo

[Sirlis]

@Werdan

 

I play a Powertech, Pyrotech spec as my main character but have been wondering what the healing side of the Hunter is like. Playing around with the skill calculator I came up with a hybrid Bodyguard/Arsenal spec similar to yours, but with a few changes.

 

Here is the build: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bfRoRdcdzZMIkbRb.

 

It sounds like you mostly play as a DPSer with healing as a backup. I plan to take the reverse of that, going for a PvP healer who can help burn down a particularly stubborn enemy while gaining some defensive utility from Arsenal. I plan to run in Combat Support Cylinder as opposed to HVGC.

 

Any constructive crticism is appreciated!

Edited January 9, 2012 by Sirlis

[Werdan]

@Werdan

 

I play a Powertech, Pyrotech spec as my main character but have been wondering what the healing side of the Hunter is like. Playing around with the skill calculator I came up with a hybrid Bodyguard/Arsenal spec similar to yours, but with a few changes.

 

Here is the build: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bfRoRdcdzZMIkbRb.

 

It sounds like you mostly play as a DPSer with healing as a backup. I plan to take the reverse of that, going for a PvP healer who can help burn down a particularly stubborn enemy while gaining some defensive utility from Arsenal. I plan to run in Combat Support Cylinder as opposed to HVGC.

 

Any constructive crticism is appreciated!

 

For the most part, I love to DPS, but I've been finding myself healing more often than not to create more balanced premades in my guild. As far as your spec goes, I'd change Powered Insulators for Protective Field. The extra 20% heals on yourself is a lot especially when you're being focused. I probably wouldn't get Tracer Missile if you're not going to spend any time using HVGC. Even at a lowered cost, 16 heat can build up pretty quickly. Don't get me wrong, I've used Tracer Missile while CSC was active, but it can get you in trouble pretty quickly if you're not watching your heat. Keep it if you like, but be mindful not to spam it. This brings me to my next point of not picking up Improved Vents. While I dont use Vent Heat as often as a full DPS Merc, I can feel good about blowing my load on someone knowing I can vent that extra heat. I'd probably drop Heat Damping and put at least the 1 pt in Improved Vents. Reactive Armor only adds about another 2% damage reduction for 9 seconds so I'd drop that as well. Spend that remaining point on Improved Vents as well.

 

It's a solid spec for PvP though. It's real easy to get tunnel vision when you start DPSing so as long as you keep that in mind, you should be ok.

[filodoks]

Hello guys!

With one rakata offhand is better for Mercenary dps? Overkill or Peace? "Peace" gives u accuracy... so i guess its not for healers but for me? Strange item-names....

[Werdan]

So going against what I'd normally do, I'm going to link some SS's of warzone stats based on the following quote via PM.

 

your build is so counter intuitive, can you in any way quantify where all that dps is coming from?

 

you say 4th in dps in pre-mades, and i just dont see it, anyhow, i will probably check it out next weekend.

 

I assume you heal more in pve than you dps?

 

What cylinder do you normally use? or do you switch out as needed?

 

Here is a match that I solo queued in. It was a mix of 50's and lowbies. I used HVGC the entire match. I'm Trace.

 

Here is another where I solo queued. Again, a mix of 50's and lowbies.

 

This one is a 2 man premade where we fought a lot of 50's. EDIT, this was a solo queue.

 

Here is a 4 man premade against almost all 50's IIRC. The 3 other players at the top of the list are all guildies.

 

Here's another solo against mostly 50's.

 

I've done as high as 400k healing and damage in seperate wz's. I think my best one in a single wz was probably 350k damage/250K healing. I don't know why I didn't SS it, but whatever.

 

I know this is a loooooooooooooong thread, but people would be doing themselves justice by reading through all my posts here and finding the answers they need in them. I almost always reply using a quote from the person asking the question, which helps lessen the amount of reading needed.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Werdan

[TheJollyRogers]

Hey Werden,

 

I have a few questions -

 

As you have said several times, you are stacking critical strike/surge via duplicate enhancements/mods as oppose to the power stat originally found on Champion/Battlemasters gear. I am sitting on about 400 power as I generally use duplicates to build myself a Medic set (for when I play Bodyguard for my guild).

 

My question is how large is the gap of effectiveness between stacking power and stacking critical/surge? At this point, if I was to switch, I'd still have an overdose of power and a low amount of crit/surge.

 

Lastly, I am 41 Arsenal and I really enjoy the extra burst that Heatseekers give me (which can critical as high as 5000 in the right circumstances). How would you place the extra points out of Arsenal? I've been toying with subspecs. I originally had alacrity talents and realized alacrity was pretty meh. I now took Med Tech, Improved Vents, the 6%+ crit talent and Surgical Precision for minor off-heals.

 

What are your thoughts on that?

 

Thank you for your time.

[aavetikov]

/subscribed

[jackalious]

Simple question I have here but could you please break down what you did level by level. I understand the 23/18/0 or what not but I would like to see what you used and when to make sure I get the max effect out of my Merc. I have two toon one being a level 25 merc and a level 40 assassin. I enjoy Bounty Hunter more and more everyday and the story behind the Merc is great. I will say the only draw back I can see if the title Champion of the great hunt is just way to long. However if you can just throw down what a leveling PvE though I'm on a PvP server should in your opinion should focus on first.

[Frankee]

Subscribing...

[KrypticFiend]

so pretty much we need to buy the combat medic gear since it is the only gear with crit on it instead of buying the eliminators gear which has power on it?

[Sullosar]

Werden, thanks a bunch for doing this. As a young merc I have read through this whole thread and it is very helpful information.

 

I’ve been leveling along the lines of your spec, and I agree with most of it, there’s a lot of utility there. But, now I’m level 33. I think I just got the point where I got supercharged gas. The problem is, I’ve never tried to heal a flashpoint before because I figured I’d be gimped due to lack of healing talents. And now I’m afraid to try healing one because I’ve never done it before.

 

I was wondering, (although you said you healed from BT onward) is there a point in this spec that you really think is optimal to start trying to main heal some flashpoints? I guess non-heroics aren’t really that hard.

 

Also, I see people were talking about setting up hotkeys for multiple abilities. Use A, unless on cooldown then use B. I’m currently using a Logitech keyboard with like 18 macros on the side, which is great, but I’m not sure how you would set one of these up. Do you just set up the macro to press 1 & 2 at the same time, and just put the priority in the higher numbered slot? Or do you put a delay in?

[thatguyya]

What are the soft and hard caps for crit and surge does any1 know yet?

[Werdan]

Hey Werden,

 

I have a few questions -

 

As you have said several times, you are stacking critical strike/surge via duplicate enhancements/mods as oppose to the power stat originally found on Champion/Battlemasters gear. I am sitting on about 400 power as I generally use duplicates to build myself a Medic set (for when I play Bodyguard for my guild).

 

My question is how large is the gap of effectiveness between stacking power and stacking critical/surge? At this point, if I was to switch, I'd still have an overdose of power and a low amount of crit/surge.

 

Lastly, I am 41 Arsenal and I really enjoy the extra burst that Heatseekers give me (which can critical as high as 5000 in the right circumstances). How would you place the extra points out of Arsenal? I've been toying with subspecs. I originally had alacrity talents and realized alacrity was pretty meh. I now took Med Tech, Improved Vents, the 6%+ crit talent and Surgical Precision for minor off-heals.

 

What are your thoughts on that?

 

Thank you for your time.

 

I've never really tried stacking power but a 31pt Bodyguard healer in my guild has a decent amount and his base heals are slightly higher than mine. While he has less crit/surge than me, he makes up for it due to the Warden skill which gives him 15% better heal crits. I'm at the point where I doubt I'll ever test power on this toon as removing all those mods is extremely expensive.

 

As for your spec, it depends on your playstyle, your guild/friend status, etc. I never have a problem starting up a premade as my guild tends to have 8-12 people on at any given time most of the day out of 30 or so members. If I were a full DPS sepc I'd probably pick up Custom Enviro Suit and Integrated Systems along with Improved Vents and Hired Muscle (I assume you picked up the last 2 as well). This way, I'd have to worry less about healing myself. If i ever had to, my heals would be 8% better to myself. A twist to that would be to pick up Empowered Scans instead of Integrated Systems to increase Rapid and Healing Scan by 6%. Healing myself would be 12% better and 6% from outside sources.

 

Simple question I have here but could you please break down what you did level by level. I understand the 23/18/0 or what not but I would like to see what you used and when to make sure I get the max effect out of my Merc. I have two toon one being a level 25 merc and a level 40 assassin. I enjoy Bounty Hunter more and more everyday and the story behind the Merc is great. I will say the only draw back I can see if the title Champion of the great hunt is just way to long. However if you can just throw down what a leveling PvE though I'm on a PvP server should in your opinion should focus on first.

 

My first posts outlines what skills to pick up first (the first 17-18 points or so) if you are planning to go my spec. It's not much different for full Arsenal spec.

 

so pretty much we need to buy the combat medic gear since it is the only gear with crit on it instead of buying the eliminators gear which has power on it?

 

If you like the Eliminator set bonus, I suggest buying those. There's a good chance you're going to get duplicate items. When you do, use that opportunity to buy the Combat Medic set to pull the mods out. I haven't read through all of the changes on the test server, but some of how this works might be a moot point.

 

Werden, thanks a bunch for doing this. As a young merc I have read through this whole thread and it is very helpful information.

 

I’ve been leveling along the lines of your spec, and I agree with most of it, there’s a lot of utility there. But, now I’m level 33. I think I just got the point where I got supercharged gas. The problem is, I’ve never tried to heal a flashpoint before because I figured I’d be gimped due to lack of healing talents. And now I’m afraid to try healing one because I’ve never done it before.

 

I was wondering, (although you said you healed from BT onward) is there a point in this spec that you really think is optimal to start trying to main heal some flashpoints? I guess non-heroics aren’t really that hard.

 

Also, I see people were talking about setting up hotkeys for multiple abilities. Use A, unless on cooldown then use B. I’m currently using a Logitech keyboard with like 18 macros on the side, which is great, but I’m not sure how you would set one of these up. Do you just set up the macro to press 1 & 2 at the same time, and just put the priority in the higher numbered slot? Or do you put a delay in?

 

If you group with people you know and they have decent gear and good coordination, you should no problem main healing flashpoints. I can't say the same for pugs due to the random....err....stupidity that might come from doing so. Normal mode is extremely easy. At my level and gear, I've been main and solo healing hard mode FP's every night with no issues at all.

 

Use Logitechs gaming software to record your multi key presses. If you're using the legacy software, I suggest you install the gaming software which has a better UI IMO. Click a G key in the software, then click the + button to open the mapping window. Click on multikey to record your keystrokes. Depending on what skills you're binding to that G key, you may have to put in a delay. For example, if 2 abilities share the same GCD, you have to account for that by entering a delay of 1.5 seconds.

 

What are the soft and hard caps for crit and surge does any1 know yet?

 

Answered in the other thread, but for those who haven't read it, I believe it is a soft 40ish for crit and 45ish for hard. Multiplier is around 90% soft and 100% hard.

[Sullosar]

Use Logitechs gaming software to record your multi key presses. If you're using the legacy software, I suggest you install the gaming software which has a better UI IMO. Click a G key in the software, then click the + button to open the mapping window. Click on multikey to record your keystrokes. Depending on what skills you're binding to that G key, you may have to put in a delay. For example, if 2 abilities share the same GCD, you have to account for that by entering a delay of 1.5 seconds.

 

QUOTE]

 

Thanks. What about doing the "use ability 1 unless it's on cooldown, in which case do ability 2" kind of thing. Just hit both buttons at once? Or put in like a 0.1 second delay?

[Werdan]

Use Logitechs gaming software to record your multi key presses. If you're using the legacy software, I suggest you install the gaming software which has a better UI IMO. Click a G key in the software, then click the + button to open the mapping window. Click on multikey to record your keystrokes. Depending on what skills you're binding to that G key, you may have to put in a delay. For example, if 2 abilities share the same GCD, you have to account for that by entering a delay of 1.5 seconds.

 

QUOTE]

 

Thanks. What about doing the "use ability 1 unless it's on cooldown, in which case do ability 2" kind of thing. Just hit both buttons at once? Or put in like a 0.1 second delay?

 

Practice with it in real time first to see how it works in game. Even though some abilities might not share a cooldown, they still require a very short animation to fire off before using another. This typically happens with instant casts. I'd start with a .1 delay with different combinations to see which work and which don't. Add .1 seconds to adjust until you find a sweet spot.

 

I CAN tell you that the one I did use did work. I had Rapid Shots and my companion main attack (control+1) bound to the same key without manually putting in a delay and it worked without issue. On that note, please be aware that hidden or off screen abilities will not fire off, even if you have them macro'd. For example, say you have a heal ability on the bottom bar bound to shift+1. If your companion bar is set to expand over the bottom bar and you use a macro that uses shift+1 or you directly press shift+1, it will NOT fire off. This does not affect abilities that already have hot keys bound to them by the game such as alt+f (set focus target) or the one used for cover (I forgot what it was).

 

Hope this helps.