Advanced Pyro PVE DPS Guild

[Duckswtfpwn]

Advanced Pyro PVE DPS Guide

by Dirtnap

 

Okay this is my first attempt at writing a guide…blah blah blah don’t hate me. Everyone says that Pyro PT’s are the easiest to get super high DPS numbers which is true to a point. You utilize many less skills than other ACs but to completely maximize your damage you have to be focused on everything that is happening with your Procs.

 

Here is the spec to completely frustrate tanks and run the DPS Meters http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301hMhZMsZfhrbzGhMM.2. This Guide is predicated on you having the Full Combat Tech 4 set bonus. If you don’t have that, just favorite this and come back when you do.

 

This entire spec and game play revolves around proc’ing Railshot. Your whole job is to PROC RAILSHOT. You want to have as many Railshots per fight period. This is twofold. First Railshot ignores 90% of the targets armor due to the talents Puncture and Superheated Rail. Second it is our hardest hitting single damage skill. Third Railshot is not only free to use due to Superheated Rail it actually refunds heat when used with the Combat Tech set bonus because it is free and you are constantly dissipating heat. So basically you’ll get anywhere from 4-16 heat back when you use a Proc’d Railshot.

 

That being said let me let you in on a few truths that you must come to terms with to perform correctly.

1) When Flame Burst hits the first tick of Burning Tech will hit at the same time, everytime.

 

2) Due to #1 Flame Burst hits harder than Rocket Punch almost everytime. (Yes if Rocket Punch Crits and both Flame Burst + Burning Tech don’t Crit Rocket Punch will be higher, but come on)

 

3) Flame Burst has a 45% and Rocket Punch has a 60% chance to Proc Railshot.

 

4) Because #2 & #3 are truths you never use Rocket Punch only when it is off cooldown. You will want to use it only when you need to Proc a Railshot. I will explain later.

 

5) Incendiary Missile is a waste of Heat…but I still use it and I’ll explain later.

 

6) We have some very Powerful Ranged attacks. Boss fights make you move away, but that doesn’t mean you cannot still be attacking. Aside from Rapid Shots that do Proc burning tech which is very nice DPS, you can Railshot and Death from Above. DON’T FORGET THESE. Also DFA is a nice starting move for the Counsel in TFB.

 

Okay so here is the Deal with #4. If you Proc a Railshot off of Flame Burst and Rocket Punch is off of cooldown, Railshot immediately. If you are under 20 Heat I Flame burst x2 and then Rocket Punch. That will push you past the 6 second internal cooldown on Prototype Particle Accelerator. If not I Flame burst and then Rapid shot or Vice versa depending on my heat. Rocket Punch has a higher percentage of Proc’ing Railshot than Flame burst. And to recap what is our entire goal? PROC RAILSHOT.

 

Heat

After knowing the basics regarding what our goal is we need to discuss maximizing DPS with regards to Heat. We all how heat works at this point. We also know that a Proc’d Railshot vents more heat back than it takes, another reason we want it to proc at all times. A good rule of thumb is if you are at 26 heat or less use Flameburst or Rocket Punch. If you are over 26 heat Rapid shot then Rocket Punch or Flame burst, based of course on truths 2-4 above.

 

Another thing I want to add is that it’s Okay to overheat. I do it frequently on purpose because of our wonderful Vent Heat ability and with our wonderful spec it’s on a 1 min 30 sec cooldown. The normal Ops Boss fight is anywhere between 4 ½ and 6 minutes long; sometimes more. That means that I can vent heat 3 to 4 times a fight. In reality I always vent heat at least twice during a boss fight. I prepare for Vent heat and explode with everything I have, meaning Flame bursts, Rocket Punches, Railshots, and sometimes Incendiary Missiles and Flame Thower. My point is BioWare gave us this ability so I say we use it to it’s fullest extent. Don’t listen to everyone saying, “Never go over 40 heat.” You can just be prepared for it and do it intentionally.

 

Also if you are ever sitting at 0 heat in a battle you lost DPS and did it wrong. You could have gotten off one more 16 heat move before you vented and/or Thermal sensor override.

 

Rotation…LOL

I’m sure you have heard this before but we don’t have rotations nor do we have priorities. Well sort of do but not in the sense of any other AC out there. Our priorities are based on Procs not cooldowns as everyone else. Now since our entire job and spec is based around Proc’ing Railshot I will now give you scenarios to begin a fight to give you an idea of the logic you must be completely honed in on to run the DPS meters.

 

–Commen Sense note: If you aren’t on the Tank’s rear end when he pulls you should be Rapid shooting until you get within 10 meters. Rapid shots+Burning Tech is still nice till you get there.

 

-Commen Sense note #2: Save adrenals for Burn phase, Bloodthirst, or right at the beginning depending on fight.

 

The “Planets Aligned” Starter

Flame Burst (Procs Railshot but don’t use it Remember don’t ever want to get to 0 Heat) – Explosive Fuel – Incendiary Missile (again cause you don’t want to get to 0 heat) – Railshot – Flameburst – Rocket Punch (Railshot Proc) – Railshot – Flame Burst until just over 40 Heat – Thermal Sensor Overide – Flame Thower – Flame burst + Railshot + Rocket Punch as to Truths 2-4.

So depending on your gear setup you basically did roughly 30-70k damage in the first 14 or so seconds.

 

Superb Starter

Flame Burst – Explosive Fuel - Rocket Punch (Procs Railshot but don’t use it Remember don’t ever want to get to 0 Heat) – Incendiary Missile – Railshot – Flame Burst to until just over 40 heat – Thermal Sensor Override – Flame Thrower - Flame burst + Railshot + Rocket Punch as to Rules 2-4.

 

Either of the above 2 starters will Rip agro off the Best Geared Tanks regardless of Guard, every time. Seriously every time.

 

You spend the rest of the fight keeping your heat at 40 until you are ready to hit Vent heat alternating between Flame Burst – Proc’d Railshot and Rocket Punch again to reiterate refer to Truths 2-4. You get back down close to zero heat begin those amazing openers I explained above.

 

So the only reason I am using Incendiary Missile is because I am getting close to 0 Heat with a Proc’d Railshot in the queue. Max Dots and Damage for most Heat efficiency.

 

This will take a while and a lot of experience until you can nail everything every time. And sometimes the RNG gods will hate you and you might actually have to fire off an un-Proc’d Railshot. Do it. It is still a Vent heat gain.

See so there is a ton of theory of knowing when and what to cast regardless of cooldowns. I know this is a ton of information but the next time someone tries to tell you that you are playing the easiest DPS in the game just laugh at them as you consistently pull off the Tank and Demolish them on the DPS meters. True that Maras and Snipers can get higher numbers on a Dummy, but in the real world you’ll be a head of them every time. Keep at it and you’ll be unintentionally tanking daily HM FPs in no time.

 

TL;DR Tough, too much info and theory for you to skip.

Edited November 23, 2012 by Duckswtfpwn
Guide not Guild grrrr

[colin_]

Great read! I feel like I am the only one still rocking the 8/8/25 spec. But I am always looking for more deeps so will definitely give yours a try. I’m curious to see other good Pt’s character builds. Personally I stack power with a rather low crit chance. I’ll try post mine sometime later today. But great post keep it up.

[Leira_Kheren]

Actually some fine work, but regarding your terms, here is a little flaw.. The Dot from Combustible Gas is nearly 100% on the target, The first reason for that is flame burst and the talent BVurstung Flame as you already stated, second reason is taht railshot renews the dot if the target is already effected with the talent Superheated Rail. Those talents give your dot a really high uptime! Nevertheless is ther a little flaw in your logic. If the DoT is present he will tick every 3s. If your target already burns you can use rocket punch and will get a normal dot tick as well.

 

However, your statement regarding the usage of rocket punch is correct, it should used preferable to force PPA to procc.

 

Over all a good work, but it seems someone did a better (more information, higher dps build) and faster work to polish the actual available informations =)

http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/thread-1165.html

[AzumaVicious]

As far as I know, the 30% Armor pen is not additive. It isn't 90% off the target's armor, more like 72%. The talent is taking off 30% of what remains after the 60% penetration.

[Leira_Kheren]

As far as I know, the 30% Armor pen is not additive. It isn't 90% off the target's armor, more like 72%. The talent is taking off 30% of what remains after the 60% penetration.

 

actually they are additive! only the 20% debuff inheritng from other player are multiplicative. This way you get something like 92% armor reduction on railshots [ (1-0.2)*(1-0.6-0.3) = 0.08 ]

[Gyronamics]

What are you so intent on getting aggro for?

 

There's no cookie for causing your tank to waste a taunt because you're blind to what they are trying to do.

 

I used to open with Railshot on 2nd attack, go to proc and Railshot again and guess what, no tank in the world generates enough aggro that fast. Cue wasted taunt.

 

So I soft start these days.

 

Get a CGC dot going, IM, TD. Now for the 4th GCD it's time for railshot followed by proc attempt and more railshot. TD goes off about the second railshot.

 

I start exactly on the call in fights like FB/SC NiM and I've not taken aggro since changing to my soft start tactic.

 

Then whatever, do fillers immediately after a proc then fish for a free railshot again.

Edited November 24, 2012 by Gyronamics

[Kothakk]

I seem to recollect that BM Eliminator set 4p bonus (+15% crit on rs) is a tad bit better for pve compared to the pve armors. I just seem to recollect reading that somewhere here. Anyway thats why im using it and getting 72 aim 52 end armorings for all my BM pieces atm. Other than that, good read.

[Nanarchist]

Good guide !

 

Just try to rename the title ("guide", not "guild") and add some colors, bold font, etc... in order to make your guide less painfull for the eyes, and more attractive !

[Kothakk]

Btw I also seem to recollect someone on a thread here had the best result with pyro with the following:

 

285 acc (for 99.89% acc)

235 crit (for 33-35% crit with buffs)

285 surge (for 75.8% surge)

rest into power, that usually in 146 rating gear means around 1000-1040 power with exo stim.

 

The numbers above are for ranged. For tech crit is way way higher. Due the spec used by the OP.

 

Also this is with the PvP BM gear and the 15% extra crit on RS.

[Gyronamics]

Btw I also seem to recollect someone on a thread here had the best result with pyro with the following:

 

285 acc (for 99.89% acc)

235 crit (for 33-35% crit with buffs)

285 surge (for 75.8% surge)

rest into power, that usually in 146 rating gear means around 1000-1040 power with exo stim.

 

The numbers above are for ranged. For tech crit is way way higher. Due the spec used by the OP.

 

Also this is with the PvP BM gear and the 15% extra crit on RS.

 

99.89% accuracy was black hole/campaign gearing.

 

DG/HM is over 100 unless you decide to drop a slot of accuracy.

[Kothakk]

Which is why I said 146 rating gear in there the DG gear will give u slighty more stats ofc.