Gunnery Commando PvE Guide

[jesseleeca]

Early access . Have exams to prepare for so I won't be playing all that much, started and will be adding more impressions and changing the guide as I am more acquainted with the changes.

[oaceen]

HIB is not free, so you should probably stop spreading that.

 

 

nothing that was already in game changed when 2.0 released. it didn't happen on PTS, and it didn't happen when it hit live.

check the gear vendors. it's exactly like it was on PTS.

[jesseleeca]

HIB is not free, so you should probably stop spreading that.

 

 

nothing that was already in game changed when 2.0 released. it didn't happen on PTS, and it didn't happen when it hit live.

check the gear vendors. it's exactly like it was on PTS.

 

Updated to reflect this.

 

Interesting, so the armourings from before 2.0 retain the free HiB while the new ones have the, in my opinion, much inferior 8% damage increase to HiB.

From the info I have now I'm guessing this will force a dilemma. We will be weighing the loss of dps from the armourings (keeping 63s while upgrading the mods and enhancements) and buff to HiB against the loss in dps from much worsened ammo regen (possible forced autoattacks to regen). Actual testing will be required to see what is better for our dps but it seems that BW is still screwing with us with this change.

Why did I ever think they would do something that actually benefited gunnery commandos?

Edited April 10, 2013 by jesseleeca

[oaceen]

Updated to reflect this.

 

Interesting, so the armourings from before 2.0 retain the free HiB while the new ones have the, in my opinion, much inferior 8% damage increase to HiB.

From the info I have now I'm guessing this will force a dilemma. We will be weighing the loss of dps from the armourings (keeping 63s while upgrading the mods and enhancements) and buff to HiB against the loss in dps from much worsened ammo regen (possible forced autoattacks to regen). Actual testing will be required to see what is better for our dps but it seems that BW is still screwing with us with this change.

Why did I ever think they would do something that actually benefited gunnery commandos?

 

i see no dilemma. any gunnery commando who thinks that the old set bonus is still required for ammo management hasn't had much experience with gunnery in 2.0 or is too stubborn to get used to the changes.

Edited April 10, 2013 by oaceen

[ArchangelLBC]

The increased damage talent to our core abilities is very noticeable. I only just got a 69 level chest piece armoring so I'll be testing ammo management without the 4 piece later.

 

On the PTS double stacking Arkanian 2 piece and old 2 piece resulted in a 30% crit rate increase for GR so that might actually be the smartest move if you're going to keep old armorings at all.

 

I also think that if you can handle ammo management, the new 4 piece IS superior to the old one, but that becomes a very fine line to walk I think. Either way I just can't conscience giving up 36 aim and 8% damage to HiB just so one ability can cost 8 less ammo every 15 seconds. Sucks, but that's the way it is.

 

Electro net on mobs that run around is pretty hilarious.

 

Final crit rate at 55 makes me sad panda though =(

[oaceen]

On the PTS double stacking Arkanian 2 piece and old 2 piece resulted in a 30% crit rate increase for GR so that might actually be the smartest move if you're going to keep old armorings at all.

 

i was thinking about this after i had logged off from the forums for the night.

 

IF i did any mix/matching with old set bonuses, i'd probably just use two DG armorings (instead of 4) and get the extra crit on Grav Round, which will more than likely result in more of a damage increase than going with the old 2/4 set bonuses (plus the stats will be a bit higher)

 

 

i'll probably do that while upgrading to the new stuff, and i might try to hold on as long as i can to a 2/2 setup with my scoundrel: +15% crit to back blast and blasty whip. that 5 energy bonus is so lame.

[jesseleeca]

Yeah, I'll probably try the 2/2 method too and see how that works when I get the gear.

[gergod]

Not sure I understand the fuss about the 4 piece set bonus change. Gunnery can talent that the cost of HiB is reduced by 6 ammo, so it only cost 2 (remember from 100) it is almost free, but you get 8% dmg increase.

[ArchangelLBC]

Not sure I understand the fuss about the 4 piece set bonus change. Gunnery can talent that the cost of HiB is reduced by 6 ammo, so it only cost 2 (remember from 100) it is almost free, but you get 8% dmg increase.

 

HiB by default costs 16 ammo. Talent reduces it by 6. DG/Campaign/Rakata/Columi/Tionese 5 piece set bonus further reduces the cost by 8.

 

So before (when the talent reduced it by the equivalent of 8 ammo) HiB was absolutely free. Now it costs 10 ammo to use.

 

Anyway, went into SM S&V tonight. If you stop paying attention and go into auto pilot it's a little too easy to lose your head and be running low on ammo, but otherwise, paying just a tiny bit of attention there's absolutely no problem. I think a big help for us is that when they made the change over they gave us Merc lower tier regen rate which was proportionally entered at a lower ammo (higher heat) level. The equivalent of 6 ammo if I recall right. Now while you may not think that's a lot, it's enough that for us ammo management shouldn't be a problem (we've basically been training ourselves to deal with harsher ammo management this whole time). Additionally, at least in Scum and Villainy, most of the fights have enough bouts of downtime that burning ammo a little faster is probably ok since you aren't actually sustaining constant ammo usage for 6 minutes.

 

Conclusion: Yeah they can keep the old set bonus. My only question now is whether or not 14 Aim and 8% damage to High Impact Bolt is better than 15% Crit rate for Grav Round.

[jesseleeca]

Conclusion: Yeah they can keep the old set bonus. My only question now is whether or not 14 Aim and 8% damage to High Impact Bolt is better than 15% Crit rate for Grav Round.

 

Has anyone gotten to 55 and parsed to see what the percentage of dps each of the abilities does? At 50 I think it GR was 30+% while HiB was ~10%. This means that, without doing any exact calculations, it might be worth trying the 2/2 method since 8% to HiB is roughly <1% in total dps and 14 aim, while not negligible, is not that much either.

Any thoughts?

[ArchangelLBC]

Has anyone gotten to 55 and parsed to see what the percentage of dps each of the abilities does? At 50 I think it GR was 30+% while HiB was ~10%. This means that, without doing any exact calculations, it might be worth trying the 2/2 method since 8% to HiB is roughly <1% in total dps and 14 aim, while not negligible, is not that much either.

Any thoughts?

 

Your logic is same as mine and if you looked at the parses from the PTS Grav Round was still a significant part of our damage and Gyro was getting something like a 60% Crit rate on it which is pretty fearsome. Don't know the exact percentage it makes up of our DPS in an ideal rotation, but I'm certain it's still very high.

 

Will try and do my own parsing tonight. Depends on how raids go.

[jesseleeca]

Added current rough rotation. Edited April 13, 2013 by jesseleeca

[ArchangelLBC]

You should also be working electronet into your rotation. It's 10 ammo for quite a nice amount of damage. I also found my DPS went up an appreciable amount when I started using RP > PG on cooldown. The ammo management is almost as good, and PG is very nice for damage. Its only problem has only ever been the ammo cost.

[jesseleeca]

You should also be working electronet into your rotation. It's 10 ammo for quite a nice amount of damage. I also found my DPS went up an appreciable amount when I started using RP > PG on cooldown. The ammo management is almost as good, and PG is very nice for damage. Its only problem has only ever been the ammo cost.

 

The reason I didn't put EN in is that I was trying to only put stuff that is almost always up in the rotation. EN will most likely be used in boss fights on CD, but since it has a 90 sec CD, I didn't include it.

As for PG+RP, I don't know how much of an effect it will have in longer fights and I personally like to save RP for when I'm low on ammo and RC isn't up.

[Natan]

I have been getting some serious crits on DR since 2.0, on Makeb i was seeing 6.9k a fair bit, but then when i was doing some word bosses i got some 9's and even 3 11k's! highest was 11.514 its crazy..

 

Not that i'm complaining

[ArchangelLBC]

I have been getting some serious crits on DR since 2.0, on Makeb i was seeing 6.9k a fair bit, but then when i was doing some word bosses i got some 9's and even 3 11k's! highest was 11.514 its crazy..

 

Not that i'm complaining

 

Whoa, what's your gear like you're hitting that? I'm hitting 7.5k-8.5k on DR on ops bosses. 9k on the old ops bosses. More obviously when relic/adrenal are running.

 

The reason I didn't put EN in is that I was trying to only put stuff that is almost always up in the rotation. EN will most likely be used in boss fights on CD, but since it has a 90 sec CD, I didn't include it.

As for PG+RP, I don't know how much of an effect it will have in longer fights and I personally like to save RP for when I'm low on ammo and RC isn't up.

 

 

 

You make a fair point. Maybe do an opening rotation and then list a priority queue? Also I use RP when ammo is getting scarce as well, I just use it with Plasma Grenade instead of something else. Try it out =)

 

Also, Aero is making an interesting reocmmendation. Open a fight and deliberately blow your ammo as quickly as possible, use RC for the 10% alacrity boost, and then continue as normal. It's an interesting idea. We walk an even finer line with ammo mangement, but the potential return might be worth it. Not recommending it or recommending against it. Needs some testing, but the idea is definitely interesting for fully maximizing DPS. As long as you can sustain your rotation without that safety net, then it could be worth it.

[jesseleeca]

You make a fair point. Maybe do an opening rotation and then list a priority queue? Also I use RP when ammo is getting scarce as well, I just use it with Plasma Grenade instead of something else. Try it out =)

 

Also, Aero is making an interesting reocmmendation. Open a fight and deliberately blow your ammo as quickly as possible, use RC for the 10% alacrity boost, and then continue as normal. It's an interesting idea. We walk an even finer line with ammo mangement, but the potential return might be worth it. Not recommending it or recommending against it. Needs some testing, but the idea is definitely interesting for fully maximizing DPS. As long as you can sustain your rotation without that safety net, then it could be worth it.

 

Good idea, I'll try making one. As for PG, that is what I usually use with RP, as you said it's damage is significant and is only held back by the ammo cost.

 

As for blowing all ammo at the start, sounds interesting but I have two questions/issues with it.

1) How exactly would you do that?

2) Given the 2 min CD, I'm not sure whether the initial burst would be worth the risk of not having it up when ammo issues pop up.

[ArchangelLBC]

Good idea, I'll try making one. As for PG, that is what I usually use with RP, as you said it's damage is significant and is only held back by the ammo cost.

 

As for blowing all ammo at the start, sounds interesting but I have two questions/issues with it.

1) How exactly would you do that?

2) Given the 2 min CD, I'm not sure whether the initial burst would be worth the risk of not having it up when ammo issues pop up.

 

1) My guess? Blow everything, maybe even throw in an explosive round, but Definitely GR > DR > FA (on proc) GR x2 > HiB > Enet > PG (without RP) > GR or maybe even Explosive Round if that's what's needed. Maximize damage with absolutely no regard to ammo usage.

 

2) That's the main question isn't it. Though the idea also has merit for end of fight burst phases since the alacrity from Recharge Cells is about the closest we come to an offensive cooldown which actually increases our DPS. To be worth it earlier in the fight will take mastering ammo management under the new system, which does take some practice. I know that right now I can definitely start getting a low quite easily if I lose focus. With more practice though, you never know!

[Natan]

Whoa, what's your gear like you're hitting that? I'm hitting 7.5k-8.5k on DR on ops bosses. 9k on the old ops bosses. More obviously when relic/adrenal are running.

 

Nothing special, mostly black hole with a couple pieces of Basic. The highest i get most of the time is around the 7-9k mark, but those 3 hits were something rare. It was on Gargath if that makes any difference.

[jesseleeca]

1) My guess? Blow everything, maybe even throw in an explosive round, but Definitely GR > DR > FA (on proc) GR x2 > HiB > Enet > PG (without RP) > GR or maybe even Explosive Round if that's what's needed. Maximize damage with absolutely no regard to ammo usage.

 

Is Explosive Round even worth it though? Not considering its ammo cost it takes 1 GCD and does less damage than GR. If the only objective was to dump ammo, then yeah, but if we're trying to maximize dps, I'm not sure it would be worth using.

[JimmyTheCannon]

Also, Aero is making an interesting reocmmendation. Open a fight and deliberately blow your ammo as quickly as possible, use RC for the 10% alacrity boost, and then continue as normal. It's an interesting idea. We walk an even finer line with ammo mangement, but the potential return might be worth it. Not recommending it or recommending against it. Needs some testing, but the idea is definitely interesting for fully maximizing DPS. As long as you can sustain your rotation without that safety net, then it could be worth it.

 

Sounds like a fantastic way to steal aggro from the tank and get yourself killed if he doesn't know you're doing it - and if he's planning for it, then everyone else might as well do that, too.

[JimmyTheCannon]

Not sure I understand the fuss about the 4 piece set bonus change. Gunnery can talent that the cost of HiB is reduced by 6 ammo, so it only cost 2 (remember from 100) it is almost free, but you get 8% dmg increase.

 

It costs 2 in Dread Guard and previous set bonus. In the Arkanian/Underworld set bonus it costs 10.

[Bigsuirlife]

i'm, pretty new on comando...just exping a new one so i need some hint.

This posted spec it's a viable for leveling and end-game PVE ? ( I'm not a pvp man)

 

it's Armor Piercing cell still PVE cell to use ?

Edited April 15, 2013 by Bigsuirlife

[ArchangelLBC]

Sounds like a fantastic way to steal aggro from the tank and get yourself killed if he doesn't know you're doing it - and if he's planning for it, then everyone else might as well do that, too.

 

New DPS checks are nothing to sneeze at, especially if you're attempting HM S&V while undergeared. Otherwise though, my guild always starts off things with an inspiration and everyone blowing relics/adrenals and whatnot early on. Our tanks expect quite a lot of threat to go out and are already prepared for it, and we in turn give then a nice solid 2-3 GCDs to solidify hate before we go.

 

 

@Jess: Explosive round is probably NOT worth using, though Mortar Volley almost certainly would be I'd think. Like I said, max out DPS while having zero regard to ammo usage. Some testing would reveal the best way to do this, or if the idea has merit at all.

 

To all commandos: I suggest dumping the 4 piece set bonus from old gear as soon as possible, if only to prepare yourself for the new ammo management.

 

i'm, pretty new on comando...just exping a new one so i need some hint.

This posted spec it's a viable for leveling and end-game PVE ? ( I'm not a pvp man)

 

it's Armor Piercing cell still PVE cell to use ?

 

Yes gunnery is 100% viable while leveling and in the opinion of some, including myself, is our best DPS spec in all facets of endgame and that includes PVP, but especially PVE. You will always use Armor Piercing Cell in this spec.

 

Hope that helps =)

Edited April 15, 2013 by ArchangelLBC

[CommanderKeeva]

My only question about this topic is how much crit we should take on our gear? I read through the other thread and wasn't able to find anything final.

 

I know a lot of people in my guild got rid of crit entirely (went down to 0 crit rating) and for now I've done the same. My power shot through the roof as a result and I'm still running ~21.8% crit due to having close to 2900 Aim.

 

I haven't been able to reach the Surge cap yet, as I've been especially unlucky with RNG rolls and didn't manage to win a single Arkanian or Underworld piece with good Surge enhancements, but I'm eager to get my Surge back to proper levels from the meager 68% I have now.

 

I have the +4% Alacrity boost talent but I think that is all the Alacrity I will have. I'm planning to get Power/Surge Implants and Earpieces and Power/Suge and Power/Accuracy enhancements. Maybe if I reach the Surge cap, I'll put in a Power/Alacrity one but that's quite far away now.

 

So my question is, should I take some crit (despite the general consensus that's it useless) or should I wait until Aim alone will grant 25%? I'm guessing sooner or later, we'll be able to reach the 25% crit cap from just Aim, right?